Indian student of University of Toronto shot dead; second murder in a week
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The twin tragedies of Shivank Avasthi and Himanshi Khurana highlight the vulnerability of international students and immigrants in Toronto amid rising homicide rates and escalating violence.
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TORONTO, Dec 26 (INS): Toronto Police on Thursday confirmed that 20-year-old
Shivank Avasthi, an Indian doctoral student at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough
campus, was shot dead on Tuesday.
The incident occurred near Highland Creek Trail and Old Kingston Road, a wooded
area close to the campus. Officers responding to reports of “unknown trouble”
found Avasthi with a gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The
suspect fled before police arrived, and no description has yet been released.
Avasthi, described as a promising student and active member of the university
community, had moved to Canada to pursue higher education. His death has drawn
strong reactions from Indian authorities, with the Consulate General in Toronto
expressing “deep anguish” and pledging support to his family.
Himanshi Khurana murder
This tragedy follows the murder of 30-year-old Indian woman Himanshi Khurana,
who was found dead in her Toronto residence last Saturday. Police classified
her death as a homicide, though details of the investigation remain limited.
The police located her body in the residence after a missing report in the
Strachan Avenue and Wellington Street W. area was filed.
The police also issued a warrant for 32-year-old Abdul Ghafoori, the suspect
in the case, for first-degree murder. Ghafoori is also a resident of Toronto,
the police said, according to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Consulate General of India in Toronto expressed shock over Khurana's death
and said it was providing all possible help to her family.
"We are deeply saddened and shocked by the murder of Himanshi Khurana, a young
Indian national, in Toronto. We extend our deepest condolences to her bereaved
family during this moment of profound grief. The Consulate has been in close
touch with the matter over the past few days, and all possible assistance is
being extended to the family in close coordination with local authorities,"
it posted on X.
The back-to-back killings of Indian nationals have alarmed Toronto’s South
Asian community, raising questions about safety and targeted violence.
41st homicide in Toronto
Toronto Police confirmed that Avasthi’s death marks the 41st homicide in the
city this year. The figure reflects a worrying rise in violent crime compared
to previous years, with several incidents involving international students and
immigrants. Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant, while universities
are issuing safety alerts to students.
University of Toronto issued a safety advisory, urging students to avoid the
area and cooperate with police investigations.
Indian officials have sought updates from Canadian authorities, emphasizing
the need for swift justice.
Local community leaders are calling for enhanced security measures around campuses
and residential neighbourhoods, particularly those with large student populations.
The twin tragedies of Shivank Avasthi and Himanshi Khurana highlight the vulnerability
of international students and immigrants in Toronto amid rising homicide rates.
While investigations continue, the incidents have sparked renewed debate over
urban safety, policing, and community protection in Canada’s largest city.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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