Toronto, Sep 7 (IANS) A 23-year-old Indian youth from Punjab has been murdered in Canada.
Prabhjot Singh Katri was found murdered early on Sunday morning near his residence in the city of Truro in Nova Scotia.
The victim came to Canada from India in 2017 for higher studies. After finishing his studies, he was on a work visa and was driving a cab to earn his livelihood.
The victim was returning home after work when he was murdered, not far from the apartment he shared with his sister and her husband. The relatives and friends of the victim claim it to be a hate crime.
The small Indo-Canadian community in the town is in shock.
Maninder Singh, the victim's cousin, said that his murder was hate-motivated.
He said Prabhjot did two jobs to help his family in India and was waiting to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
"He was an innocent guy returning back from his job. He drove a taxi," the victim's friend, Jatinder Kumardeep, was quoted as saying.
Agampal Singh, another friend of the victim, said that he had no enemies.
"We don't have any idea why this happened. He was a very innocent guy. He didn't talk with people he didn't know. And then this thing happens, which has totally destroyed his family and us also. We come to this country for a good future. We are not safe here. I can't even sleep."
An online fundraiser has raised more than $50,000 to send the body to India.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to register cases under the Disaster Management Act against Opposition leaders and activists who have been staging protests in the state over the past few days.
The Delta variant accounts for more than 27 per cent of new cases in Ontario, as more international flights with Covid cases landed in Toronto last week.
India's capital allowed businesses and shops to reopen with limited hours and the Delhi Metro, which serves New Delhi and adjoining areas, also resumed operations at 50% capacity.
After Upendra Kushwaha and Sanjay Singh, Umesh Thakur, the Siwan district president of the JD-U, jumped into the fray and said that Pandey has a long criminal history. He had also molested a young girl in a train.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
