Nagaraju Surepalli died while trying to save his son, who fell into the deep end of the pool
The bodies of 31-year-old Indian American Nagaraju Surepalli and his 3-year-old son Ananth, who were drowned to death in the community pool at the Glens of Northville apartment complex last week, reached India on Monday. The funeral took place in Surepalli’s native place in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur.
Surepalli’s friends collected $181,799 from an online fundraising campaign to pay for the funeral expenses and transport the dead bodies to India. They thanks the donors on the gofundme website.
“Thanks again for all your support. With your help we achieved the goal we set out to help support the bereaved wife and family in hour of need and beyond. Mortal remains have reached India yesterday and funeral took place in Naga’s native place,†the post read.
Surepalli’s friends thanked Infosys HR team, TANA members, and Hindu Funeral Home, NJ, for all their support. They said the money received through the campaign will be handed over to Surepalli’s wife and family.
The bodies of Surepalli and his son were found floating in the outdoor pool by an employee of the apartment building at about 4.25 p.m., last Wednesday. According to the police, Surepalli died while trying to save his son, who fell into the deep end of the pool while riding a tricycle.
They were pronounced dead at St. John Providence, Providence Park Hospital’s Novi campus.
Surepalli was in the US for last three years along with his mother, wife Bindu and son Ananth. He was working for Infosys as a software engineer.
The autopsy was done on Thursday. The bodies were then handed over to a funeral home on Friday. After completing all the formalities in funeral home and receiving a clearance from consulate, they were airlifted to India.