24-year-old Indian student assaulted in Canada, dies

Gurvinder Nath was delivering pizza at around 2.10 am on July 9 in Mississauga’s Britannia and Creditview roads, when unknown suspects confronted him and tried to steal his vehicle

Toronto: A 24-year-old Indian student, who worked as a food delivery partner in Canada, has been killed after he was violently assaulted during a deadly carjacking, according to media reports.

Gurvinder Nath was delivering pizza at around 2.10 am on July 9 in Mississauga’s Britannia and Creditview roads, when unknown suspects confronted him and tried to steal his vehicle, CTV News channel reported.

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“Investigators do believe that there are multiple suspects involved and that the food order was placed as a means of luring the driver to this specific area,” Inspector Phil King of Peel Regional Police’s Homicide Bureau said, adding that investigators have obtained an audio recording of the Pizza Pizza order placed before the attack.

After Nath arrived, he was “violently assaulted” and left critically injured by a suspect who robbed him of his vehicle and fled the scene, police said.

Multiple witnesses came to his aid and called for help before Nath was rushed to a trauma centre where he was pronounced dead on July 14.

Siddhartha Nath, Consul General of India in Toronto, said Nath’s death is a “heartrending loss” and he extended his condolences to family members, friends and the wider community, the CBC reported. He said the Consulate General has contacted the family after his death. “It was heartening for me to see how the community responded, came together both online and physically to support the family in this time of grief,” the Consul General said. “Of course, nothing can make good the loss, but it will be some solace to the grieving family and it’s also a signal of the spirit of the community because it is in times like this when the spirit and the solidarity and the sense of empathy is tested.”

Nath’s vehicle was found abandoned in the hours following the attack in the area of Old Creditview and Old Derry roads — less than five km from the crime scene, King said. “The working theory is that perhaps there may have been extensive injuries (to Nath) that may not have been anticipated and that may have caused (the suspects) to get rid of the vehicle early,” he said.

The vehicle has since been forensically examined and “several” pieces of evidence have been retrieved, King added. Police say there is no known connection between Nath and his attackers. “I would like to remind those involved that regardless of your level of participation, you are complicit in the murder of Gurvinder Nath and you will be arrested and charged accordingly,” King said.

Nath’s body will be flown to India on July 27 with the help of the Consulate General of India in Toronto, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.