The Toronto Police Service has arrested Richard Jonathan Edwin, a 39-year-old man, for murdering a 21-year-old Indian , Kartik Vasudev, who moved to Canada in January and was pursuing Global Management at Toronto-based Seneca University. He was a first-year student and stayed in an apartment with his cousin.
Soon after joining the college, he got a job for himself at a restaurant in the downtown area. Every day, he took the same route through the Sherbourne subway station to get to work. But, on April 7th, 2022, the mishap took place when he was shot at the Glen Road entrance to the Sherbourne TTC station in St James Town.
Toronto Police Service chief James Ramer said the suspect, Richard Jonathan Edwin, is also charged with another homicide, which he committed on April 9th,2022, just two days after killing Kartik. Police have reported that Edwin’s second victim was Elijah Eleazar Mahepath, a 35-year-old man who was walking westbound on the north side of Dundas Street East near George Street. Police also described these incidents as “random attacks”.
Detective Sergeant Terry Browne of the Homicide Department, Toronto Police, has said that the victim (Kartik Vasudev) was shot many times and was in a vulnerable position the whole time. Browne said, “The suspect that we are referring to for both shootings has no criminal background
.” We are doing a very deep dive to find out his criminal background, to find out who this person is, where he has been and who he has been associated with. ” He also added, “Concerning the two victims, there is nothing to suggest that he knew either of them and, more importantly, what we believe at this stage anyway is what we do describe as a chance meeting, a chance passing and the reason only known to the suspect.”
Kartik is originally from Ghaziabad. His father, Jitesh Vasudev, said that Kartik dedicated three years of his life to studying hard to get into the school in Toronto. He was a very polite, very sensitive, and very loyal child. Everybody, family, friends, everybody loves him very much, “the victim’s father said.
Grieved by this tragic incident, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar took to Twitter to express his sorrow, writing, “Grieved by this tragic incident.” My deepest condolences to the family. “Jitesh Vadudev and his family have been informed about the arrest by Canadian police officials.
