Melbourne: A 23-year-old man, wanted for the brutal murder of an Indian taxi driver in New Zealand, has been arrested by Chinese authorities, over four months after the crime, police said Monday.
Hiren Mohini, a 39-year-old father of two, was stabbed after taking a fare from downtown Auckland to suburban Mt Eden on January 31 this year.
The accused man, who was arrested in China's Shanghai city on June 10, has been granted interim name suppression, the New Zealand Herald reported. However, another New Zealand Website stuff.co.nz said the man has been identified as Zhen Xiao in the Auckland District Court files.
Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, who headed the murder investigation, is now in China helping authorities with "evidential matters".
"Discussions are underway between our officers in China and Chinese authorities regarding the next steps in the investigation," Auckland City CIB head Detective Inspector Bruce Shadbolt said.
Officers recovered a knife in the days following the January 31 killing, which Jones described as a "vicious" and "frenzied" attack, and canvassed hospitals for people with fitting injuries.
CCTV pictures of the man that police believed was connected to the stabbing were released but he fled New Zealand by the time they identified him.
A fortnight after he fled, police searched his apartment in Auckland and on February 26 a warrant was issued in the District Court for his arrest.
Since then a nation-wide appeal by the Taxi Federation has raised more than USD 100,000 for the Mohini family.
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