Family of Indian student killed in Toronto says it was a hate crime

Ghaziabad: Hours after he was killed in Toronto, the grieving family of 21-year-old Indian student is still in disbelief.

Kartik Vasudev from Ghaziabad was shot dead outside a subway station in Toronto on Thursday evening.

The family told the Indian Express that they were desperately seeking the government's help for clarity and justice.

However, Karthik's father Jitesh Vasudev said he received no phone call from the Embassy or Canadian authorities.

He said the family was clueless about his death. And he sensed a silence around Karthik's death, as he was the only one killed.

He said he would knock every possible door for justice, as he felt everyone wanted to let the issue die down.

Kartik was in his first year pursuing global management from Seneca University. Alongside, he was working at a restaurant in the Downtown area.

Karthik was going to work on Thursday. Unlike every day, he got off at Sherbourne Station after his managed asked him to pick a package from near the stop.

Local Canadian journalists told the family that Kartik was shot eight times, near the station.

Nobody has been arrested so far, the report says. The family suspect it was a hate crime and not a robbery gone wrong. Jitesh said that the bag left behind at the scene indicated it was not a robbery.

He wanted someone to answer the family's questions and no one was telling the family why he was shot dead, according to the report.

It would take six days for the body to reach India, the family had been reportedly told. But Jitesh wanted their visas expedited to reach Canada at the earliest.

Jitesh said he wanted to visit the spot personally, and see to that the guilty was punished.

Kartik's friends and batchmates from the university organised a prayer ceremony in his memory, according to the report.