Wrongfully imprisoned for more than 40 years, US man now faces deportation to India

After 43 years of wrongful imprisonment, Subramanyam Vedam is finally exonerated of murder—but now faces deportation to India, a country he hasn’t lived in since infancy.

(BBC) 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 are 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."

The 1980 murder

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. That sentence was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence.

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.