Who Is Subu Vedam? Indian-Origin Man Freed After 43 Years In US Prison Now Faces Deportation

After spending more than four decades in a Pennsylvania prison for a crime he did not commit, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam walked free, but only to be detained once again, this time by US immigration authorities.

The 64-year-old Indian-origin man was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moments after his release in August this year, over a long-standing deportation order from the 1980s. His family and legal team are now fighting to stop his removal from a country he has called home since infancy.

Vedam was convicted in 1983 for the murder of his friend, Thomas Kinser. Although he always maintained his innocence, his appeals failed for decades. It was not until 2022 that new forensic evidence emerged, revealing the bullet wound did not match the murder weapon presented at trial. A further investigation uncovered that prosecutors had withheld an FBI report vital to his defence, Moneycontrol reported.

This led a Centre County judge to overturn Vedam’s conviction earlier this year. District Attorney Bernie Cantorna formally dismissed all charges, noting the case’s age and lack of witnesses. With that, Vedam became Pennsylvania’s longest-serving wrongfully convicted prisoner.

Who Is Subu Vedam?

Subu Vedam was born in India and brought to the US when he was just nine months old. Raised in Pennsylvania, he spent nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

His niece, Zoe Miller Vedam, said, “India, in many ways, is a completely different world to him. He left India when he was nine months old… His whole family—all of his family relationships—are here and in Canada.”

Despite his exoneration, ICE has held Vedam on the basis of an old deportation order related to a drug conviction from his teenage years.

The agency has described him as a “career criminal”—a claim his lawyer, Ava Benach, strongly disputes. She argues that without the wrongful murder conviction, Vedam would have likely resolved his immigration case years ago.

His family has launched a public campaign and filed legal motions to halt his deportation. “Since that wrongful conviction has now been officially vacated and all charges against Subu have been dismissed, we have asked the immigration court to reopen the case and consider the fact that Subu has been exonerated,” they said.