Melbourne police searching for two Haryana students following fatal stabbing incident

Australian police are searching for two Haryana brothers who fatally stabbed another individual of Indian descent in Melbourne early Sunday morning (May 5). 22-year-old MTech student Navjeet Sandhu, who also hails fromHaryana’sKarnal, was stabbed to death as he tried to intervene in a dispute among Indian students over the rent issue.

Emergency services responded to the incident at 1 am at North Rd at Ormond in Melbourne’ssoutheast.

Police said they were searching for 26-year-old Abhijeet Abhijeet and 27-year-old Robin Gartan, both brothers, in connection with the murder.

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The Australian quoted Detective Inspector Dean Thomas from the Homicide Squad as saying that the accused brothers were consuming alcohol at a“party or gathering.”

“Throughout the evening there were some altercations occurring … prior to 1am an altercation has occurred … resulting in the two victims being stabbed,”Inspector Thomas said.

Meanwhile, relatives of Navjeet Sandhu in India have said the altercations occurred due to some disagreement over rentasall of the involved students used to live in the same house.

''Navjeet'sfriend (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 sawthere wasa scuffle. When Navjeet tried to interveneaskingthem not to fight, hewas fatally stabbedin the chest with a knife,''said Yashvir from Karnal, thevictim’suncle.

He said the family received the information about the incident early Sunday morning.

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.

Navjeet went to Australia on a study visa one-and-a-half years agoandhis father, a farmer, had sold one-and-half acres of their land to fund his education, reported the Press Trust of India.

The family has urged the government of India to bringNavjeet’sdead body“as soon as possible.”

Australian police said the accused, Abhijeet and Robin, are travelling in a stolen 2014 white Toyota Camry sedan.

(With inputs from agencies)