Australian police to reconstruct Indian’s fatal stabbing

MELBOURNE - The final moments of Nitin Garg, who was fatally stabbed in this Australian city Jan 2, will be reconstructed by the police in an effort to catch his killer.

The police plan to return to Yarraville in Melbourne’s west to retrace the last steps of the 21-year-old accounting graduate before he was fatally stabbed.

At about 9.30 p.m., a man dressed as Garg will walk from the Yarraville railway station and cut across Cruickshank Park along a metre-wide dirt path on the eastern side of the park to Hungry Jack’s restaurant.

Garg, who hailed from Punjab, was on his way to work at the restaurant when he was attacked. He staggered into the outlet with stab wounds before collapsing. He was rushed to hospital but didn’t survive.

There has been a series of attacks on Indians in Australia and Nitin Garg’s slaying caused an uproar in India. The assaults on Indians have strained relations between New Delhi and Canberra.

“We have been dedicated to this case,” AAP quoted Detective Senior Sergeant David Snare as saying.

“This is just another step in the investigation and we will continue to heavily focus our efforts.”

“Someone in the community knows who has committed this horrendous crime.”

The string of attacks on Indians in Australia started last May, with Indian taxi drivers being targeted in some recent incidents.

Three Indian taxi drivers were attacked in different Australian cities Jan 16. While a 25-year-old taxi driver was assaulted in Melbourne, two more, one of whom was a student, were attacked in Ballarat.

The attacks came a day after a man was sentenced to three months in jail for assaulting and threatening to kill another Indian taxi driver in Melbourne.