Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian
A defendant charged in the hit-and-run death of a Columbus teen who was attempting to board a school bus is seeking permission to move out of state.
Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, of 3224 Country Brook St., was arrested following the Aug. 30 death of 16-year-old Columbus East High School student Lily J. Streeval. He’s accused of attempting to drive around a stopped bus with warning lights flashing and arm signal extended, allegedly striking the victim as she was crossing the rural road to board the bus.
On Nov. 12, defense attorneys James H. Voyles, Jr. and Brittney Newland filed a notice to Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin that their client had recently been terminated from his job. He was believed to formerly be a quality control engineer at Faurecia in Columbus.
According to the notice, Subramanian has accepted a job in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that is scheduled to begin immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend on Nov. 29.
Subramanian will maintain his current phone number, and will appear in court at all times he is ordered to be present, the defense attorneys said in their request. West Chester is a community of 20,000 residents just outside Philadelphia that is situated 631 miles from Columbus.
Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecutor Kimberly Sexton is objecting to the request to allow the defendant to move out-of-state. A hearing has been scheduled in Judge Kelly Benjamin’s courtroom at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The company offering to employ Subramanian is ValidIT Solutions, LLC – which is registered in Georgia as a foreign limited-liability company with one principal owner: Sarma Varan of Cumming, Georgia.
The notice to Benjamin maintains that the defendant does not currently have a permanent address, but his attorneys say he will notify the court of his permanent address.
Subramanian and his attorneys went before the judge on Oct. 22 to ask for a change of venue, claiming the defendant could not receive a fair trial in Bartholomew County due largely to negative comments on social media. One week later, Benjamin denied the change of venue request.
The defendant is formally charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony, and passing a school bus when arm signal is extended causing death, a Level 5 felony.
He was released from the Bartholomew County Jail in early September after posting a $500,000 cash bond. However, the resident of India was ordered to surrender his passport prior to his release.
At this time, a change of plea hearing for Subramanian is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Jan. 3. A tentative trial date of Feb. 1 also has been set.
