London : A 38-year-old Indian-origin man, hailing from Kerala, was stabbed to death in South London on Friday. Aravind Sasikumar died after being found with stab injuries on his chest outside a residential property in Southampton Way, the Metropolitan Police said. The incident took place just three days after shocking incidents of knife attacks in the UK that saw the deaths of a British Indian teen and a girl student from Hyderabad.
Detectives investigating Sasikumar's fatal stabbing have charged his roommate Salman Salim with murder. According to media reports, Salim (25) stabbed Sasikumar to death following a quarrel. The accused appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court on the same day and was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on June 20, police said.
Police said that they were called at 01:27 hrs on June 16 after a man was found with stab injuries outside a residential address in Southampton Way. Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service. Despite the efforts of emergency services, Sasikumar died at the scene.
A post-mortem examination carried out on the same day of the murder confirmed that Sasikumar died as a result of stab wounds to the chest. Police said Sasikumar's family has been informed and they are being supported by detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, according to an IANS report.
The gruesome murder adds to the string of knife attacks across the UK, which saw the deaths of British Indian teen Grace O'Malley Kumar and 27-year-old Kontham Tejaswini Reddy from Hyderabad in separate incidents on June 13. On Tuesday, O'Malley Kumar from London and fellow student Barnaby Webber, both 19, were on their way back home when they were stabbed to death at 4 am on Ilkeston Road.
Valdo Calocane, a dual Guinea-Bissau/Portuguese national, has been charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. On the same day in Wembley, Tejaswini, who had gone to London for higher studies, was fatally stabbed in Neeld Crescent. Her 28-year-old flatmate, Akhila was also attacked and admitted to the hospital with knife injuries. She is out of danger now. Keven Antonio Lourenco De Moraisa, a 23-year-old was taken into custody as a murder suspect and is due to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates Court in London.
