The bodies of the two students from Andhra Pradesh, who were murdered at the Louisiana State University on December 13, arrived at Hyderabad early on Sunday morning.
A huge crowd comprising family members and friends of the deceased were present at the airport to receive the bodies.
Komma Chandrashekhar Reddy (31) and Allum Kiran Kumar (33), both PhD students, were found shot dead in their apartment at the LSU.
Kiran Kumar's uncle Allum Narayana told rediff.com that the bodies will be taken to the respective native place and the cremation is expected to take place later in the day. He said that neither Chief Minister YSR Reddy nor any of his ministers were at the airport to receive the bodies. Only a few government officials were present to help the families go through the formalities, he said.
The two PhD students had left for the US to pursue higher studies approximately five years ago. Some of the family members and friends, who had been at the airport earlier to bid farewell to the two boys when they left for the US, were inconsolable.
"I cannot believe this is happening. I was here to see off Kiran when he left for the US and today, I stand here to receive his dead body," said a friend.
Some family members feel that the souls of the two boys will be able to rest in peace if the culprits, who committed this ghastly crime, are brought to book.
They said that the investigating agencies in the US continue to keep in touch with them and preliminary reports indicated that it was a murder for gain.
According to the police, Chandrashekhar, who did not have any relatives in the US, had visited Kiran on that fateful night, when two people entered their house and tried to rob them. Both the boys were shot dead by the culprits.