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Indian-origin prof killed in shooting
Published on Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 08:42, Updated on Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 11:50 in 
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INDIAN KILLED: Loganathan (inset), who had been working for 15 years was among the 32 victims.
New Delhi: As a stunned United States comes to terms with the gruesome shooting on the Virginia Tech University campus that claimed 33 lives, there’s bad news for India as well.
Reports have it that an Indian-origin professor is among those killed in the campus massacre.
Professor G V Loganathan of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was teaching in a class in the Norris Hall – one of the crime scenes – when the gunman went on rampage.
His colleague Prof Raman Kumar confirmed the news of Loganathan’s death to CNN-IBN.
According to Raman, Loganathan was taking a lecture when the second shooting occurred. He was killed around 0915 hrs (local time), Raman confirmed.
When CNN-IBN contacted a shaken Raman, he was at Lognathan’s residence and said he got the confirmation from the authorities at the University.
However, Raman said no other details were made available and police were not willing to give out any information regarding the deceased or the injured to anyone except the immediate family.
Another of Loganathan's colleagues, Prof Mallika Kumar told CNN-IBN that the news of Prof's deaths broke around 1700 hrs (local time). "Police gave out the information after we tried locating him in local hospitals. I think they are giving out information of those killed one by one," said Prof Kumar.
Remembering Loganathan as a "well-known" professor, Kumar said he was renowned for his teaching techniques and had served the university for over 15 years.
"The Indian community is really supportive at this point of time and lots of students came to pay homage," he added.
Loganathan is survived by wife Usha Loganathan and two daughters Uma and Abhirami. The family of four stays on the campus in Blacksburg.
"It will be really tough for the family to cope up," said Kumar who's also Loganathan's close friend.
According to Virginia University website, 51-year-old Loganathan received his bachelor's degree from Madras University, his master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, and his doctorate from Purdue University.
Loganathan first became a member of the Virginia Tech community in 1982 and earned several honors, including the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education.
He was also the recipient of Virginia Tech's 2006 W.E. Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Indian student missing
Reports also have it that an Indian student has been missing since the massacre. Minal Panchal – a Masters student in Building Sciences - was also in the Norris Hall when the shooting took place.
Minal’s friends say they have been trying to contact her, but her phone is not reachable. Twenty-six-year-old Minal belongs to Mumbai.
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