Santa Clara Police Shooting of Telangana Engineer Draws Family Calls for Justice
Santa Clara drew national Desi attention on two sharply contrasting fronts: a 30-year-old software engineer from Telangana was shot and killed by city police following a confrontation at his apartment, prompting urgent appeals from his family to India's foreign ministry, while a South Bay Hindu resident's 25-year paper-model tradition found its latest expression in a miniature Levi's Stadium invoking a Hindu deity's blessing for the 49ers ahead of Super Bowl LX.
Family Seeks Answers After Police Kill Telangana Engineer in Santa Clara
Mohammed Nizamuddin, a 30-year-old software engineer who had relocated from Mahbubnagar, Telangana, to pursue a career in California's technology sector, was shot and killed by Santa Clara police on September 3. Officers responding to a call at Nizamuddin's residence found him inside the dwelling pinning down an injured roommate while holding a knife, according to a statement cited by US media. Santa Clara police opened fire on Nizamuddin; he was transported to a local hospital and later pronounced dead. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office and the Santa Clara Police Department announced a joint investigation into the incident, describing it as active and ongoing, with further updates to be released as inquiries progressed.
Nizamuddin's relatives in Telangana were not informed of his death until September 18—more than two weeks after the shooting—when a friend living in California contacted the family. His father, Mohammed Hasnuddin, told reporters he had no information about why police shot his son and immediately appealed to India's Ministry of External Affairs to help repatriate his son's remains to Mahbubnagar. Majlis Bachao Tehreek spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan, who met with the bereaved family, wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urging him to direct the Indian Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in San Francisco to engage on the case.
A relative's account, shared with news agency ANI, described a dispute between Nizamuddin and his roommate over an air conditioner that escalated into a physical confrontation. When police entered the room, the relative said, officers instructed both occupants to show their hands; one complied while the other did not, after which officers fired four rounds in rapid succession. Before his death, Nizamuddin had published a post on LinkedIn alleging he had been subjected to racial hatred, racial discrimination, harassment, wage fraud, and wrongful termination during his time in California. He had completed a Master of Science in Computer Science in Florida before moving to California for work. The family has called for a thorough and transparent investigation into all circumstances surrounding his death. [6]
🪔 Santa Clara Fan Builds Paper Levi's Stadium With Hindu God's Blessing for Super Bowl LX
Mangesh Tamhankar, a Santa Clara resident for 25 years and a dedicated San Francisco 49ers fan, has crafted an intricate paper model of Levi's Stadium that incorporates the image of a Hindu deity offering a blessing to the team ahead of Super Bowl LX. According to Patch, Tamhankar hopes the 49ers will agree to display the handmade model inside Levi's Stadium, reflecting the pride he invests in both his Bay Area home and the Hindu heritage his family carries.
The paper model is the latest in a tradition the Tamhankar family has sustained for 25 years, during which they have gathered each year to design and build a new paper model around a theme tied to significant worldwide events. This year, with Super Bowl LX scheduled to be played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, the family focused their creative energy on the championship game being held in their own adopted city. The result weaves together the family's love of Bay Area football with a distinctly South Asian spiritual dimension, placing a Hindu god at the center of the 49ers' championship aspiration.
The project offers a telling glimpse of how Indian-American families across Silicon Valley have blended devotional traditions with the rhythms of everyday Bay Area life. For the Tamhankar family, a paper model is simultaneously a faith expression, a creative collaboration, and a tribute to a city they have called home for a quarter century. Tamhankar's 25-year Santa Clara residency is representative of a generation of South Asian professionals and families who settled in the South Bay during the technology boom and have since made their cultural mark on the region in ways both large and quietly personal. [4]
Sources: [6] gulfnews.com · [4] patch.com