AAA<\/p>\n
A Melbourne maths teacher and beloved father was drugged and murdered with a baseball bat before his body was dumped in a canal in India, police say.<\/p>\n
Officers in Amritsar, in India\u2019s north-west, have charged the man\u2019s brother with murder, as they continue to scour the canal to find his body.<\/p>\n
![\"Tributes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/33df7aac5de5bb2df98af453ce91b189ea732456.jpeg\")
Tributes are flowing for Melbourne teacher Sunil Sharma, whose death has been confirmed in India.<\/p>\n
Documents seen by this masthead suggest the brother has confessed to the murder, which possibly came after the brother allegedly tried to steal the dead man\u2019s property.<\/p>\n
Sunil Sharma was first reported missing on May 22 after travelling to India from Melbourne to sell two investment properties.<\/p>\n
The 66-year-old was a maths teacher at Diamond Valley College in Melbourne\u2019s north-east. The school is yet to comment publicly on his disappearance or death.<\/p>\n
On Saturday (Melbourne time), police in Amritsar provided an update on their criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
![\"Sunil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/77868fadf61b19424778c3b3e2e7c2c7af5fd34c.jpeg\")
Sunil Sharma, with his daughter Surbhi and son Saransh, has been remembered as a caring father and teacher.<\/p>\n
Officers said they had arrested Satish Sharma \u2013 Sunil\u2019s brother \u2013 Satish\u2019s wife, Anushka, and her son Sunish, as well as property dealer Lakshman Singh.<\/p>\n
They claimed that Satish and Sunish took Sunil from a house, drugged him with sleeping pills and hit him on the head with a baseball bat, killing him.<\/p>\n
Police also claimed Satish\u2019s wife arrived and the three of them tried to destroy evidence of the murder, including a bloody mattress and the baseball bat, before dumping Sunil\u2019s body in the Harike canal.<\/p>\n
Sunil\u2019s daughter Surbhi Sharma spoke to media outlets the week her father was reported missing, saying she was worried he had met with foul play.<\/p>\n
Surbhi said her father went to India to sell his two investment properties so that he could retire in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had offers on both,\u201d she said. \u201cHe had a shipping container booked to ship his furniture.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is understood that the four accused had fabricated a power of attorney and sold the two properties along with Sunil\u2019s sister\u2019s property.<\/p>\n
Surbhi said she did not want anyone to associate her father \u201cwith the type of person his brother turned out to be\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who\u2019s met my dad will say he is intelligent, strong and funny, but he [was] also loving and sensitive. He had a good heart and a tough exterior,\u201d she said. \u201cMy dad was always there for us. I count myself so lucky to have had a father like him who taught me everything I know about life today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surbhi also thanked people who had sent well wishes to her and her family.<\/p>\n
Sunil\u2019s death is being felt across Australia\u2019s Indian diaspora community. \u201cSunil Sharma was more than a headline,\u201d wrote the Facebook page Indians of Sydney in paying tribute to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a father. A teacher. A member of our Australian community. A man described by his daughter as intelligent, strong, funny, loving and sensitive. A man who had spent years educating young minds and was looking forward to returning home to Australia after settling family matters in India.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Punjabi Community of Victoria said the group was deeply saddened and shocked by Sharma\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe extend our heartfelt condolences to Mr Sharma\u2019s family, friends, and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. No family should have to endure such a senseless and tragic loss,\u201d president Param Jaswal said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe strongly condemn this heinous crime and call for justice to be delivered swiftly and fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaswal also said the swift work by police had provided the Sharma family with some reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand in solidarity with the Sharma family and all those affected by this tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Australia\u2019s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to comment, but said the government was aware of the death and the arrests.<\/p>\n
More to come<\/p>\n
Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts<\/a> on email or turn on notifications in the app.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Rachael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768361476_288_540a687e77d331a49c3e6a6d8b0fa74e2948b9d663d6ef32cc687266b6743dc9.png\")
Rachael Ward<\/a> is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.ward@theage.com.auConnect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated June 7, 2026 \u2014 2:35pm,first published 1:16pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-720444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}