Source : Perth Now news
The search for a Melbourne teacher missing in India has come to a tragic end, with reports his body has been found.
Indian media are reporting Punjab Police found Sunil Sharma’s body in a canal near Harike, about 60km south of where he went missing.
Police have arrested four people including Mr Sharma’s brother, sister-in-law and nephew in connection to his alleged murder.
Mr Sharma, 66, a maths teacher from Diamond Creek in Melbourne, went missing from his home in Ashyaana Estate, Amritsar, in northern India near the Pakistan border last month.
Mr Sharma’s daughter, Surbhi Sharma, made an emotional plea to authorities and her uncle, fearing her dad may have been kidnapped or killed after he went missing while renovating his house in India.
“My dad’s 66, like it’s 40 degrees plus in India every day. I’m really, really worried about him. I just can’t understand where he could be,” she told 7News at the time.
“He goes to India often, especially since my mum passed away four years ago. So he’s just been trying to sell his properties there so he can come back and retire.”
Ms Sharma was told it was too dangerous for her to travel to India to search for her father herself.
“My brother and I have been told not to go there because it’s not uncommon that family members can also go missing if there is something to do with property or money,” she said.
Ms Sharma said authorities had CCTV, adding: “They’ve got my dad coming to the property (in the) morning, going out for an hour in the afternoon, coming back just before 2pm, just before his phone’s off and then my dad is nowhere to be seen, and his car is completely gone.”
Preliminary investigations by Punjab Police indicate that the homicide was driven by a property dispute.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar, Kanwalpreet Singh, the victim went missing on May 22.
Indian law enforcement authorities have confirmed two suspects remain at large, and active raids are underway to secure their arrest.
