'He knows no one in India': Timeline of the case of Subu Vedam who has been in US jail for 43 years

64-year-old Subu Vedam, an Indian-origin man in Pennsylvania, is now facing deportation threats to India which he left as an infant when he was nine months old. His family members claim that he has no one in India apart from very distant relatives and they are completely caught off guard as the man who has spent the majority of his life in jail has been described by ICE as a "career criminal"

Who is Subu Vedam? Here is a complete timeline

Subu Vedam came to the US as a nine-month-old toddler legally.

Vedam was arrested in 1982 on charges of the murder of his friend, Thomas Kisner.

He was convicted in 1983 and was sentenced to life without parole. Vedam claimed innocence but lost the case

In 2022, new evidence came up in the investigation and it was proved that a different weapon was used in Kisner's murder and it was not the one found in 1982.

On October 3, 2025, he was released from jail after being the longest-serving exoneree in Pennsylvania history.

As soon as he was released, he was arrested by the ICE.

ICE said there was a legacy deportation order against Vedam dating back to the 1980s, even before he was convicted of the murder.

The deportation order stemmed from his drug dealing which he admitted to having done in his youth. ICE said Vedam is a career criminal with a rap sheet dating back to 1980 and he is a convicted controlled substance trafficker who stands to be removed from the country.

'43 years in prison for crime he didn't commit': Indian-origin Subu Vedam arrested by ICE moments after release, will be deported

First MBA in Pennsylvania from jail



As his family members are at a loss with the deportation order, they recounted how Vedam made significant achievements inside jail. He completed three degrees by correspondence with magna cum laude honors, including a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He is recognized as the first inmate in the state prison system in over 150 years to achieve a graduate degree while incarcerated.

“He left India when he was nine months old ... He hasn’t been there for over 44 years ... to send him to the other side of the world, to a place he doesn’t know, away from everyone who loves him, would just compound that injustice," his niece Zoe Miller Vedam said.