CHANDIGARH: Two brothers from Haryana have been arrested in Australia for stabbing to death a 22-year-old MTech student from India.
Abhijeet and Robin Gartan were arrested in New South Wales’s Goulburn on Tuesday, two days after the fatal stabbing of Navjeet Sandhu in the Melbourne suburb of Ormond, officials said.
“Brothers Abhijeet Abhijeet and Robin Gartan were arrested in Goulburn with the assistance of NSW Police,” the Victoria Police said in an official statement.
The victim and the accused were residents of Haryana’s Karnal.
MTech student was allegedly stabbed to death in Australia during a fight between some Indian students, the victim’s uncle said on Monday.
He said that one more student was injured in the incident, which took place on Saturday around 9 pm local time in Melbourne.
According to Yashvir, the victim’s uncle, 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.
“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, who is 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.