(Image source from: WTOP.com)

A man, who killed an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas shooting earlier this year, has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Adam Purinton, the United States Navy veteran had fatally shot Kuchibhotla, who hailed from Hyderabad and injured two others in a racially motivated hate crime at a sports bar in Kansas City in the United States on February 22, 2017.

Purinton, who had earlier faced a death sentence before he pleaded guilty to murder in federal court in May, will not be eligible for parole for 50 years.

At his plea hearing in May, Purinton had admitted that he shot Kuchibhotla and his friend Alok Madasani because of their race, color, religion, and national origin, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.

To state charges for murder and attempted murder, Purinton pleaded guilty previously and was sentenced to life in state prison house.

He was charged with first-degree murder of Kuchibhotla and attempted first-degree murder of Madasani, and a Kansas resident Ian Grillot, who chased Purinton after he fled the crime incident.

According to CNN, Kuchibhotla and Madasani, both originally from India, worked as engineers at Garmin, a technological company that makes GPS (Global Positioning System) devices.

Eyewitnesses said that Purinton purportedly yelled, "Get out of my country," before fatally shooting Kuchibhotla.

By Sowmya Sangam