London: A 38-year-old Indian-origin man was killed in a fatal stabbing outside an apartment block in south London and a 25-year-old man has been charged with his murder, as the Scotland Yard said its Specialist Crime Command is leading the investigation.
Aravind Sasikumar died after being found with stab injuries outside a residential property in Southampton Way in Southwark Friday.
The Metropolitan Police launched a murder investigation and charged Salman Salim, 25, with murder Saturday, when he appeared before Croydon Magistrates’ Court to be remanded in custody.
Salim is scheduled to appear at the Old Bailey court in London Tuesday.
“Police were called at 01:27hrs (local time) Friday, 16 June after a man was found with stab injuries outside a residential address in Southampton Way,” the Met Police said in a statement.
“Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service. Despite the efforts of emergency services, Aravind died at the scene. A post-mortem examination carried out Friday, 16 June confirmed he died as a result of stab wounds to the chest,” the statement said.
The Met Police said the family of Sasikumar, reportedly originally from Kerala, have been informed and are being supported by detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command.
“Horrific murder in Southampton Way/Coleman Rd. Deepest sympathy to bereaved family. Contact police if you have any info that can help bring whoever did this to justice,” tweeted Harriet Harman, Labour Party MP for Camberwell and Peckham in south London, soon after the incident Friday.
The London Ambulance Service said it sent numerous resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, medics in two fast response cars, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer.
“We also dispatched a trauma team from London’s Air Ambulance, which consisted of a paramedic and a doctor in a car. Sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, a man was pronounced dead at the scene,” a spokesperson said.
This marks the second fatal stabbing of an Indian-origin person in London and the third across the UK this week.
Tejaswini Kontham, a 27-year-old student from Hyderabad who had recently graduated, was killed at a residential property in north London earlier this week.
A 23-year-old Brazilian national has been charged with her murder and the attempted murder of her friend Akhila, who was hospitalised with serious injuries from the stabbing attack in Wembley.
In a separate incident around 205km north of London in Nottingham, British Indian teen hockey star Grace O’Malley Kumar from the University of Nottingham was stabbed along with a university friend.
A 31-year-old man of West African and Portuguese heritage remains in custody charged with their murder.
PTI