The local police had said Mr Surepalli had taken his son, Ananth, to the poolside of his apartment complex in Michigan, where they were planning to sit. When the child, who was riding a bicycle, fell in the pool, Mr Surepalli had jumped in to save him. But he was not a good swimmer and both of them had drowned, the police had said.
The pool did not have a lifeguard and they were the only ones in the area. The bodies were found later by the residents.
After a postmortem, the local authorities have said it was an accidental death.
Mr Surepalli's friends had started an online fundraiser for the funeral and taking the bodies back to India. So far, $181,000 has been raised. Mr Surepalli is survived by 29-year-old wife Bindu.
In the crowd-funding appeal, friends had described Mr Surepalli as "the most jovial, honest, friendly person you would ever meet and always smiling".
"In the midst of this tragedy, we've set up this fund to help them with the funeral expenses and other ongoing grief/recovery support costs. This includes the very expensive process of carrying their mortal remains back to India," the organisers wrote.
A post by Ajay Kande on the fundraiser page said it is estimated that the bodies of Surepalli and his son will reach India by tomorrow.
The US police said the family had been in the US for approximately three years on an H-1B non-immigrant work visa.