Missing Indian businessman found dead in Australia

Melbourne: Indian businessman Pardeep Kumar, who went missing two weeks back, has been found dead in Australia's Victoria state.

Detectives say they are investigating possible business connections of Kumar who is presumed murdered at Mildura, in northwest Victoria, ABC Online reported Wednesday.

Kumar, 33, has been living in Mildura for a year. He had set up a labour contracting company.

Homicide squad detective Ron Iddles said Kumar went to a meeting about a business deal at the Mildura Library two weeks ago, and has not been seen since.

"He came here to meet someone, this was what he told someone, it was going to be a good deal for him and sadly I think he has met with foul play," Iddles was quoted as saying.

Kumar's blue Commodore car was found two days later outside the Mildura railway station.

Iddles said Kumar's phone and bank accounts have not been touched since he went missing.

The police official stated that Kumar was well-connected in the local Indian community and "he was very popular with his workers because he was giving them work, accommodation and he actually bought food for them".

"At times, he had 15 to 20 people staying in his house," Iddles added.

In a separate incident, a man of "Indian or Asian appearance" was stabbed at a busy intersection Wednesday in Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford following a brawl involving up to 10 men.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson told The Age that up to 10 people were involved in the fight that spilled on to tram tracks at the corner of Victoria and Hoddle Streets just after 3.30 p.m.

During the brawl the 28-year-old man was stabbed and kicked to the ground, she said.

'Daniel', a witness, told The Age that a man of Indian or Asian appearance, believed to be the stabbing victim, was sitting on the ground propped against a shop front.

He said: "He didn't look too healthy."

Paramedics arrived at the scene to find the man "dazed and confused" and with a significant wound to his upper body.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said the victim was taken to Royal Melbourne hospital with a non life threatening single stab wound.

He said there were believed to have been five attackers of Asian appearance who jumped on a tram heading for Box Hill.