Arrest warrant against Indian student

An Australian court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against an Indian student, who is believed to have fled to India after
killing a pedestrian in a car accident, violating his bail terms.

The warrant was issued after Puneet, 19, failed to report to police since June 12 after being involved in a car accident last year.

The County Court heard that Puneet who was a learner driver had not reported to police as part of his bail conditions and the judge issued an arrest warrant.

Dean Hofstee, a 19-year-old from Queensland, was killed when Puneet lost control on the road in October last year. He had confessed that he hit and killed a Queensland man outside his Melbourne hotel.

The Victorian police have also arrested and charged a 20-year man for allegedly giving his passport to the Indian student and helping him flee the country.

Police executed a search warrant in Reservoir suburb this morning and arrested the man who has been charged with the commonwealth offence under the foreign passports and law enforcements act for giving a travel document to another reckless in the knowledge of how it will be used, media reports said here.

Puneet's lawyer Angpal Singh told the County Court that he had not seen his client since April or May. Puneet was granted bail on condition that he report to police five days a week and was due to face a plea hearing today.

Meanwhile, the victim's father Peter, who came for the hearing, said it was extremely disappointing.

"He's in India, I think he's in India," Hofstee said adding, "I would certainly hope the Australian and Indian authorities co-operate to bring him back.

"We obviously indicated we were coming down (for the plea hearing), then they (prosecutors) came back to us to say that he had not been reporting in and they didn't know where he was. Subsequent investigations have found that he's flown out of the country," Hofstee said.

Police said at a previous court hearing Puneet, a Victorian Institute of Culinary Arts and Technology cookery student, recorded a 0.165 blood-alcohol reading after the crash.

He was estimated to be travelling at almost 150 kmh when he lost control in the 60 kmh zone.