Melbourne maths teacher Sunil Sharma, who went missing in India last month, was allegedly murdered by his brother and dumped in a canal.
Sunil Sharma, 66, was preparing for retirement and had been in the city of Amritsar in Punjab province in the country’s north-west, readying an investment property for sale when he disappeared on May 22.
On Saturday local time, Amritsar police gave a press conference alleging that Sunil Sharma’s brother Satish Sharma gave his brother a drink spiked with sleeping pills and then murdered him with blows to the head with a baseball bat.
Indian authorities say Melbourne man Sunil Sharma was drugged by relatives then killed with a baseball bat.
Local officers also allege Satish Sharma’s wife and son assisted by removing a blood-stained mattress and the baseball bat.
Police claim the trio then dumped Sunil Sharma’s body in a canal.
Sunil Sharma’s daughter Surbhi Sharma told the ABC on Saturday night authorities had informed her that her uncle had been arrested by police.
Police had been searching for Mr Sharma’s brother, who was seen at the property around the time his brother went missing.
Sunil with his daughter and son Surbhi and Saransh Sharma. (Supplied)
She said she had been told a major search was underway to recover her father’s body.
In a statement, Ms Sharma paid tribute to her “intelligent, strong and funny” father, who she described as “loving and sensitive” with a “good heart”.
“My dad was always there for us and sometimes even a little too much,” she said.
“But I count myself so lucky to have had a father like him who taught me everything I know about life today.”
Ms Sharma also said she had been touched by tributes from the Diamond Valley College community, where her father had been a teacher.
“He would’ve loved to see everyone recognise him and it warms my heart to read and know he gave the gift of education to hundreds of students over the course of his life,” she said.
