Houston: The trial into the cold-blooded murder of a young Indian software professional, also an avid Hindu community activist opened here, three years after he was shot dead in a park while meditating.

Friends and family have wondered what happened in a west Houston park that led to the killing of 28-year-old Akhil Chopra in August 2005 as the trial was delayed for three years. Howard Dale Bellamy, 24, is charged with murdering Chopra and faces a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole.

In his opening statement before District Judge Marc Carter, assistant district attorney Shannon Davis said Bellamy shot and killed Chopra, taking his wallet and afterwards dispensing the contents to friends "like it was Christmas and he was Santa."

Chopra, a computer professional and an active volunteer for the Hindu Students Council, had come to the US from India in 2001 to study for a masters degree.

He had been a very active member of the Indian community. Every Sunday, he was the voice of the news in Hindi for the Sanatan Radio Programme. His friends said Chopra could have been meditating in the park near his office when the unfortunate incident happened.

Bellamy, however, told jurors after the trial opened this week in Harris County District Court that he and his girlfriend spent time with his grandmother and went to eat a pizza during the time Chopra was robbed and shot in the temple with a .38-caliber revolver.

But his girlfriend denied Bellamy's alibi, the Houston Chronicle reported. Bellamy, whose grandmother has since died, also admitted to being a member of the street gang. Prosecutor Wendy Baker told jurors that the murder was "just a senseless act of violence." "Akhil Chopra was all alone in that park meditating," Baker said. "And that man killed him after he beat the hell out of him."

Defence attorney Doug Durham said Bellamy's girlfriend, Domonique Alston, could not be trusted and lied to protect another gang member. "I can't say it's closure by any means," said Natalie Duran-Ariz, one of Chopra's co-workers who watched the start of the trial. "Really and truly, I think what we want to know is Why?"

For Bellamy's 21-year-old sister Tandra, her brother will finally get his day in court after being held in jail since his arrest in August 2005. "He can get his point across that he's not guilty, and he is going to come home," she said. The delay in the trial was required, in part, to gather evidence and analyse it, said Bellamy's attorney Durham. Also, prosecutors have changed in the course of trial preparation, said Baker.

Jurors are expected to continue deliberating Bellamy's fate on Monday. The district attorney's office is not seeking the death penalty based on the facts of the crime and Bellamy's criminal history, said Scott Durfee, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Source : PTI