Subramanyam Vedam: Fighting Against Deportation After 43 Years of Wrongful Imprisonment

Mon Oct 20 2025 01:03:14 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Subramanyam 'Subu' Vedam, exonerated after 43 years in prison, now faces possible deportation to India, a country he barely knows. His family's battle for justice continues.

Subramanyam 'Subu' Vedam was wrongfully imprisoned for over 43 years for a murder he didn't commit. Recently exonerated, he now faces deportation to India, raising concerns about his ties to the country and the impact on his family. Vedam's legal team is fighting the deportation as they navigate this new and challenging situation for him and his loved ones.

After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam Subu Vedam was finally free. New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate. But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr. Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.

Now, Mr. Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good. His family is now working to navigate a new and very different situation, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC. Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.

Mr. Vedam has been repeating one message to his sister and other family members in the wake of the new situation: I want us to focus on the win. My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee. More than 40 years ago, Mr. Vedam was convicted of murdering his once-roommate Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student. Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull. On the day of Kinser's disappearance, Mr. Vedam had asked him for a ride. While the vehicle Kinser drove was returned to its usual spot, no one saw it being returned. Mr. Vedam was charged with Kinser's murder.

He was denied bail, had his passport and green card seized by authorities and was labelled a foreigner likely to flee. Two years later he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1984, he was sentenced to a separate two-and-a-half to five years for a drug offence, as part of a plea agreement.

Throughout that time, Mr. Vedam maintained his innocence on the murder charges. His supporters and family members stressed there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime. Mr. Vedam repeatedly appealed the murder conviction and a few years ago new evidence in the case surfaced which exonerated him. Earlier this month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna stated he would not pursue a new trial against Mr. Vedam.

But Mr. Vedam's family knew there was one hurdle left before he was free: he still had a 1988 deportation order, based on his convictions for murder and a drug offence. The family expected they would have to file a motion to have his immigration case reopened. However, ICE cited the immigration order as their reasoning for quickly detaining him in a different Pennsylvania facility.

While he was exonerated for the murder charge, his drug conviction still stands as declared by the immigration agency who acted on a lawfully issued order.

The family has stressed Mr. Vedam's ties to India - where ICE wants him deported - are weak at best. While he was born there, he moved to the US at nine months old. His community is in the US and Canada. His family argues that deporting him to a country where he has few connections would represent another wrong done to a man who has already endured injustice.