Last week Sharif Rahman Khan was shot dead in University City, a St. Louis, Missouri suburb. Some U.S. news reports suggest it was a hate crime against the Indian software engineer.

Cole Miller, 23, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and receiving stolen property. Khan was reportedly killed “in his girlfriend’s apartment.” She had been having issues with a transient man - with a police record - known to her as ''John Mills,'' according to KSDK.com, a news outlet.

Miller reportedly told the police that he shot a man three times during a struggle. Miller poses a danger to Khan’s girlfriend because he has a “romantic fixation” with her and knows her schedule, the police told reporters. Miller is on probation for two gun charges and has a pending case of domestic assault and harassment, according to KSDK.com.

“None of Sharif’s colleagues have told us anything close to what is being reported in the media,” his older brother Mukeem told the Times of India.

Khan worked for Birlasoft in St.Louis. It is an Indian IT services company which employs 10,000 engineers worldwide. The company, with its main office in a suburb of Pune, India, has a market value of $1 billion. It is part of the $2.4 billion India-based CK Birla group, whose businesses include, besides IT, cement, fans and lighting for homes, healthcare and education.

Khan grew up in Bhopal, where his family lives in the Subash Nagar area. Evidently, he was well-liked and popular. “Extremely disheartened to hear our school friend is no more,” tweeted Aditya Thakur, responding to a tweet from Khan’s sister conveying the news of Khan’s demise. “He was among the nicest person in school…see you in other world bro.”

A gofundme campaign to raise funds for Khan’s burial, organized by his friend Ashish Singh, who lives in suburban St. Louis, quickly collected $26,000. The plan was to conduct the burial, “respecting his family's wishes and the Islamic faith…as quickly as possible” in the U.S., Singh states on the fund raising site.

But yesterday Singh posted that, since the funds were not used for the burial and “because his family in India wants no share of it,” the donations will be returned. “We were highly overwhelmed with your response,” Singh added. “Just want to let you know that Sharif rests in peace now.”

The photo of Sharif Khan is from the gofundme sight set up by his friend Ashish Singh.

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