After 43 Years In Prison, Finally Subu Vedam Can Stay In US

In a big relief, Subu Vedam, an Indian-born US Green Card holder who was jailed for 43 years in a false murder case, has been ruled eligible to stay in the US. The judge made special mention of Vedam’s deep personal growth as he dedicated much of his time in prison for academic study and mentoring his four nieces, who visited him when he was in the jail.

In 2025, soon after he was released, the ICE officials reopened an old drug peddling case to deport him. The ruling was pronounced by an immigration judge last week. However, Subu would still remain in ICE custody as the Department of Homeland Security was given time till May 4 to appeal against the reprieve granted to him.

Vedam was lodged in the jail after being arrested in 1982, when he was nearing US citizenship, on charges of killing his friend and former roommate in 1980. Vedam was convicted as he was the last person to have seen his friend, Thomas Kinser, alive. Kinser, who was 19 years old then, went missing in December 1980 and was found in the woods with a bullet wound to the skull nearly nine months later.

Vedam was charged with first-degree murder even when there was no direct evidence linking him to the heinous crime.

Since his arrest in 1982, he was in the prison. In 2025, he was released from the prison but his freedom lasted only a few hours. He got relief from the false murder case but ICE sleuths arrested him in connection with minor drug crimes which had been pending since 1980s and tried to deport him.

However, as Vedam was just 20 years old when he was first arrested for the murder, the officials ignored the deportation order. But soon after his release in 2025, they revived the old case against Vedam and tried to send him to India.

In early 2026, the drugs case was reopened and the Judge ruled that Subu should be allowed to stay in the US.

Vedam was brought to the US by his parents when he was just nine-months-old, along with his elder sister. Later, his parents passed away. Since then, his sister and her family had been Vedam’s only relatives.

Now, Vedam has to stay in the prison till May 4 for his actual release.