Oz police release images of gang bashing of Indian student

Melbourne, May 21 (ANI): Melbourne police have released images of a vicious gang bashing of an Indian-origin student in the latest attack of what is being dubbed "Indian hunting".

The footage shows victim Sourabh Sharma, 21, being beaten after being asked for a cigarette by a group of thugs who descended on him as he travelled alone along Melbourne's Werribee train line on May 9, the Herald Sun reports.

Transit safety division Detective Sen-Constable Craig Buttigieg said seven men aged between 15 and 20 boarded the train at Aircraft station, five of them soon approaching the lone student as he sat listening to the radio.

Moments later, after being refused a cigarrette, the attackers seem to enjoy the beating they hand out, although police still do not consider the attack racially motivated.

Detective Sergeant Constable Buttigieg said the thugs did abuse Sharma while they kicked him to the head and ribs although their primary motivation was robbery.

The youths took Sharma's backpack, which contained 650 dollars for his tuition and rent, along with his mobile phone.

He is unable to attend his tertiary course and has no means to support himself in a share house he rents with six others.

Sharma was taken to the Mercy Hospital with a fractured cheek bone and had lost a tooth.

He also has significant swelling and bruising. (ANI)