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Melbourne, Australia
Abhijeet Abhijeet and Robin Gartan, both of Indian descent, were caught by police (Victoria Police/X).
A 22-year-old MTech student from India was fatally stabbed in Australia during a dispute, leading police to search for two Indian-origin brothers
Two Indian-origin brothers have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 22-year-old MTech student from India, who was stabbed to death in Australia.
Abhijeet Abhijeet and Robin Gartan, both brothers who are of Indian descent, were caught by the police hours after the murder in Melbourne. They were arrested on Tuesday in the New South Wales country town of Goulburn police are preparing to extradite them to Victoria, the Goulburn Post reported. Abhijeet and Gartan were on the run since the early hours of Sunday after Navjeet Sandhu from Noble Park was killed and a 30-year-old man, also from Noble Park, was injured at an Ormond home in Melbourne’s southeast.
Police on Thursday charged Gartan with murder and attempted murder while Abhijeet was charged with affray. They faced Goulburn Local Court on Thursday morning where their extradition to Victoria was granted. The brothers are set to front the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday. Navjeet Sandhu was fatally attacked with a knife 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.
(With agency inputs)
