Source Hindustan Times
PHILADELPHIA — A 28-year-old data analytics professional from Hyderabad, India, was brutally shot and killed in North Philadelphia after being lured into a suspected trap using a fake weekend pizza delivery order.
The victim, Anshul Kuncha, was working his corporate tech job during the week but took up part-time delivery shifts on weekends to supplement his income. Authorities believe his compliance with the late-night order led him directly into a fatal ambush.
The Ambush at a Vacant Address
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, the incident occurred just past midnight on Friday at the Raymond Rosen Homes housing complex on Edgeley Street.
Investigators revealed that a delivery order for three pizzas had been placed for an apartment unit that was actually vacant. Surveillance footage captured by the Philadelphia Housing Authority shows Kuncha entering the building carrying the pizza boxes while being trailed by two individuals dressed in dark clothing, one of whom was carrying a backpack.
Inside the vacant apartment, officers later discovered the untouched delivery bag and pizza boxes, indicating Kuncha had successfully completed the drop-off. Moments after leaving the unit, he was ambushed.
“He was found with close-range gunshot wounds to the head,” stated Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small, noting that three spent shell casings were recovered just feet away from the body. Kuncha was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Targeted Attack, Not a Robbery
Because Kuncha’s wallet, phone, vehicle, and personal valuables were left completely untouched, his grieving family has strongly rejected the theory of a botched robbery. Instead, they believe he was deliberately targeted via the mobile ordering app.
Speaking from their family home in Gundlapochampally, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Kuncha’s sister, Tanvi, expressed utter devastation.
“It was a decoy. It was a death trap designed specifically to target my brother,” Tanvi said. “They called him to a deserted, vacant location and killed him. We don’t know who was behind it or what they gained from taking his life.” She added that while Kuncha had previously survived a mugging in the U.S. where his gold chain and phone were stolen, he had never faced life-threatening hostility before this weekend.
From Academic Success to a Corporate Career
Kuncha moved to the United States in 2022 to build a life in data science, graduating with a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business in March 2024. An accomplished student, he had received the LeBow Alumni Merit Scholarship and was highly proficient in data engineering and advanced statistics.
Before moving abroad, Kuncha worked in India as a Senior Product Compliance Analyst for Amazon and an Operations Analyst for Jio Platforms. At the time of his death, he was employed full-time as a Data Validation Analyst for a multinational firm in Pennsylvania.
Distraught by the volatile safety conditions, Tanvi issued a stark warning to other families: “He didn’t want to go to the US, but we sent him… Look what he ended up in. This is a message to all the parents who are sending their children to the US—do not send your kids there.”
Government Response and Ongoing Investigation
The Consulate General of India in New York confirmed Kuncha’s untimely demise and issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter):
The family has appealed to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to expedite the repatriation of Kuncha’s mortal remains, which local U.S. authorities are expected to release.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia detectives are actively tracking the digital footprint and phone records associated with the fake food order to identify the two masked suspects. No arrests have been made yet.
You can watch this Telangana Man Shot Dead During Pizza Delivery In US video report, which details the ongoing police investigation and features the family’s appeals for justice from Hyderabad.
