The White House has termed the recent Kansas shooting that killed an Indian techie was an “act of racially motivated hatred”. The statement came after the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the incident, confirmed that it was a hate crime, reported BBC. “We want to reiterate that the president condemns these or any other racially or religiously motivated attacks in the strongest terms,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders on Tuesday evening.

Sanders’ remark is a clear deviation from what the White House had maintained till now. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the reports about the shooting were “disturbing”. Earlier, Spicer had said it was “absurd” to link the crime to Trump’s stand on immigrant.

President Donald Trump did not comment on the shooting till Wednesday morning (IST) when he made his first address to the United States Congress. He had had been criticised for his silence, with Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders urging Trump to speak up about the shooting.

Kuchibhotla was shot dead at a Kansas City bar on February 23 by a Navy veteran, Adam Puriton. His friend Alok Madasani and another American friend, Ian Grillot were also shot at by Puriton. Eyewitnesses at Austins Bar and Grill had heard Adam Puriton shout “Get out of my country” before he started shooting at the men, whom he had believed were Arabs.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has rejected reports that India has issued a demarche to the US, reported The Times of India. MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said that the responses from US had “obviated the need for a demarche by the government on this matter”.

Kuchibhotla was cremated in Hyderabad on Tuesday evening. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya was among the many politicians present at Jubilee Hills as Kuchibhotla’s funeral pyre was lit. The funeral procession started from his residence in Bachupalli. Several mourners shouted slogans, such as “Srinivas Kuchibhotla Amar Rahe” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.