Indian student stabbed to death in Australia; police search for two Indian-origin brothers
Melbourne/Chandigarh, May 6: A 22-year-old MTech student from India was stabbed to death in Australia during a fight between some Indian students and police are searching for two Indian-origin brothers in connection with the murder.
Navjeet Sandhu was fatally attacked with a knife by another student when he tried to intervene in a dispute between a few Indian students over some rent issue, according to the deceased victim's uncle Yashvir in Karnal, Haryana.
"Navjeet's friend (another Indian student) had asked him to accompany him to his house to pick up his belongings as he had a car. While his friend went inside, Navjeet heard some shouts and saw there was a scuffle. When Navjeet tried to intervene asking them not to fight, he was fatally stabbed in the chest with a knife," Yashvir, who'll retire from the Army in July, said.
He added that like Navjeet, the alleged accused also hails from Karnal.
Yashvir said the family got the information about the incident early Sunday morning.
Navjeet's friend, whom he was accompanying, also sustained injuries in the incident, the uncle of the deceased said.
Yashvir said the family is in a state of shock. "Navjeet was a brilliant student and was to join his family in July for vacations," he said.
According to Yashvir, Navjeet had moved to Australia on a study visa one-and-a-half years ago and his father, a farmer, had sold one-and-half acres of their land to fund his education.
"We urge the Government of India to help us to bring the body as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, Victoria Police said their Homicide Squad detectives are releasing details and images of two men they are searching for following a stabbing in Ormond in Melbourne's south-east.
A search is currently underway for brothers Abhijeet Abhijeet and Robin Gartan, both of Indian descent, it said.
Abhijeet is 26 years old and described as being 170cm tall with a solid build and black hair.
Gartan is 27 years old and is also described as being 170cm tall with a solid build and black hair.
It’s believed they are travelling in a stolen 2014 white Toyota Camry sedan.
The pair was last seen in the Ormond area in the early hours of Sunday, shortly after the incident occurred.
Emergency services were called to a residential property at about 1 am on Sunday, following reports of a dispute, the statement said.
Upon arrival, two men were located with stab wounds.
Victoria Police, however, did not identify the victims.
It is understood two other men fled the scene following the incident and police are continuing to search for the pair.
It’s believed the parties involved in the incident were known to each other and police are still working to establish the cause of the dispute, the police statement said.
Investigators are keen to speak to anyone who knows the current whereabouts of the two men, it said.
Homicide Squad detectives are releasing details and images of two men they are searching for following a stabbing in Ormond yesterday where one man was killed and another was seriously injured.
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) May 6, 2024
More info: https://t.co/vm3FtbvzWQ pic.twitter.com/CmKlCtXz6r
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
