Car fire, more evidence of hate crime in Oz, claim Indian students

Melbourne, June 8 (ANI):The Indian students community in Australia is living under constant fear after a car was set alight on Sunday, which they term as an another example of hate crime.

Police say the car was deliberately lit in a common car parking area for a block of units in Kelvin Grove, Springvale, which houses many Indian students.

Spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students in Australia, Gautam Gupta, said drug dealers in the area threatened students on Saturday before the car was destroyed around 1a.m. on Sunday morning.

Two other vehicles, which were parked on either side of the burning car, were damaged.

"One of the residents of that block of flats had been asked for money by drug dealers and he had to seal himself inside his apartment. The students there are living in fear, this was a hate crime," The Herald Sun quoted Gupta, as saying.

He said shopkeepers and other residents have also been threatened by groups of under-aged youth.

Police said the torched car's 30-year-old owner was asleep when he awoke to the sound of his car horn and looked out to see his Toyota Camry in flames.

The arson attack comes after a series of bashings of Indian students around Melbourne that have sparked widespread community debate. (ANI)