Sydney, Aug 20

Police in Australia have charged two people with the murder of a India-born businessman last month.

A 27-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man were arrested and charged Tuesday with the murder of Shyam Dhody July 5, local media reported. 

Dhody, 37, was shot dead while he was on his bed in his home at Gilston, a suburb of Gold Coast city in the Australian state of Queensland July 5.

The woman, who has been charged with the murder, was reportedly Dhody's partner and had claimed that she found his body after she returned from work the evening of the incident.

On Tuesday morning, police took the woman to Southport police station in Gold Coast and formally charged her with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Hours later, police arrived at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane to speak to the 32-year-old man.

The man, who was under guard after undergoing a surgery, was also charged with murder and attempted murder.

Police had suspected that Dhody's murder may be linked to an assault on him outside his previous home at the Gold Coast suburb of Molendinar March 26 this year.

Dhody had moved to the Gilston home after that assault.

After making Australia his adoptive country, Dhody had run into major financial problems with banks repossessing several of his properties.

The arrests for his murder came after extensive investigations involving a large police task force.

The woman, who is expected to appear at the Southport Magistrates Court Wednesday, has denied the charges.

“She absolutely denies any involvement whatsoever in either of the alleged offences,” The Courier Mail quoted her solicitor Jason Jacobson as saying. 

“We are going to do our best to proceed with an application to the supreme court for her bail as soon as possible,” he added.

Dhody's two brothers and parents had reached Gold Coast from India July 15 and had made a fervent appeal to the people to help find his killer.

The victim had arrived in Australia 13 years ago and his wife and two children, aged eight and five, who live in India.

By:IANS

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