Wrongly jailed for 43 years, Indian now faces deportation: The tragic turn in Subu Vedam’s fight for freedom

Dubai: After spending 43 years in a Pennsylvania prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam finally walked free earlier this month. But his long-awaited freedom was short-lived.

According to a BBC report, the 64-year-old Indian-origin man — exonerated of the 1980 murder of his college roommate — was immediately taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which now seeks to deport him to India.

Vedam has not lived in India since he was nine months old. “He’s unfamiliar with modern technology, he wouldn’t know how to find housing or a job,” his niece told the Times of India, adding that he “has more of a Philadelphia accent than anything else” and “doesn’t speak Hindi.”

Exonerated — but still detained

As reported by The Guardian, Vedam was freed on October 3, 2025, after prosecutors admitted that crucial evidence had been concealed during his 1983 murder trial. The court vacated his conviction, ending one of Pennsylvania’s longest wrongful imprisonments.

But before he could embrace his family, ICE officers moved in. Vedam was transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center and remains there as a federal detainee.

“This immigration matter is a remnant of Subu’s original case,” his family said on the “Free Subu” website quoted by The Guardian. “Since that wrongful conviction has been officially vacated, we have asked the immigration court to re-open the immigration case and account for the fact that Subu has been exonerated.”

• At a glance: Subu Vedam’s case

• 43 years behind bars: Wrongfully convicted in 1983 for the murder of his college roommate in Pennsylvania.

• Exonerated in October 2025: Prosecutors admitted key evidence had been concealed.

• Arrested again: Taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hours after his release.

• Facing deportation: ICE cites a 1988 deportation order linked to an old drug conviction.

• India ties ‘non-existent’: Vedam left India as a baby, doesn’t speak Hindi, and has no close family there.

• Family’s appeal: Lawyers urge immigration court to reopen the case, calling deportation “another injustice.”

A life stolen twice

Vedam’s ordeal began in 1980 when his 19-year-old roommate, Tom Kinser, went missing. Kinser’s body was found months later in a wooded area with a gunshot wound to the head. Despite a lack of physical evidence or witnesses, Vedam was charged, denied bail, and labelled a “foreigner likely to flee,” as the BBC noted.

Convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison, he always maintained his innocence. His supporters highlighted that no forensic link tied him to the crime.

In 2021, new evidence surfaced that cleared him of the murder — but not of a decades-old drug conviction for LSD possession. ICE is now citing that conviction and a 1988 deportation order as the basis for detaining him.

An ICE spokesperson told The Guardian that Vedam “possesses a standing removal order” and called him a “convicted controlled substance trafficker.”

‘He has no life in India’

Vedam’s sister, Saraswathi Vedam, told the BBC the family is fighting to reopen his immigration case. “He was held wrongly, and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something,” she said.

His lawyer, Ava Benach, told both the BBC and The Guardian that deporting Vedam now would be “another terrible wrong.” She described him as “the longest-incarcerated prisoner in Pennsylvania to be exonerated.”

“He will again be robbed and miss out on the lives of the people closest to him,” his sister added. “It’s almost like having his life stolen twice.”