NRI who was thrashed to death visited India every year, stayed till I-Day

GURUGRAM: “He left India 25 years ago and settled in the US, but every year he visited in June, celebrated Independence Day and then went back. Never imagined that this would be his last visit,” said Abhishek Singhal, the nephew of Somou Balaya, who passed away after he was assaulted in DLF 2 on Wednesday.
An MBA graduate, Somou had started an IT firm in San Antonio, Texas, where he resided with his wife Geeta and 15-year-old son Raja Krishnan. As the school session in the US ends in June, every year the family spent their vacation in India.

“Earlier, they used to stay at a relative’s place or a hotel, but five years ago, my uncle bought a house in DLF 1. The ground floor was leased out, while they kept the first floor for themselves. In their absence, a caretaker looked after the house,” Singhal said.

According to neighbours, the family members joined them for Independence Day celebrations in the morning and had interacted with most of the people present there. “They had their return tickets booked for this Saturday. Somou was a soft-spoken man, who had never thought that something like this would happen to him,” a neighbour said.

When TOI visited the DLF 1 house of the deceased on Thursday, it wore a deserted look. The guard said family members had requested privacy and did not wish to meet anyone.

Neighbours said a policeman had come to the house around 5pm on Wednesday and informed Geeta about Somou’s death.

“We don’t know what led to my uncle’s murder. He had left home with his son Raja around 4pm for the latter’s swimming classes at the DPS in DLF 2. After around three hours, we got to know through a police officer the news of his death,” Singhal said.