MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu has condemned the murders of Shrivaar Panday and Kurtlee Pillay, two young Durban students who were attacked and murdered in separate incidences in Durban this week.
In a media release, Mchunu expressed his shock and disgust at the cruelty of the murders which took place in the same week he launched Safety Month.
He welcomed the swift arrest of three suspects in connection with the murder of Pillay and said investigations were still ongoing.
In the meantime, police are investigating a possible link in the two brutal murders in which both students were fatally stabbed in their VW Golf vehicles.
Shrivaar Panday was attacked in what police believe may have been an attempted hijacking as he was driving to UKZN to write an exam on Monday.
According to police, no arrests have been made but a witness has been identified by police who are trying to convince him to talk. Mchunu has apparently instructed detectives working the case to treat it as a priority.
Kurtlee Pillay, a third year student apparently stopped his vehicle to go to the aid of a group of men he believed were stranded on Stephen Dlamini (Essenwood) Road when he was brutally attacked and stabbed multiple times.
His attackers drove off in his vehicle, dragging the young student along the road. Pillay suffered a cardiac arrest and died. His body was found lying in West Riding Row Street in Sherwood.
On Wednesday, police received a tip off from a security guard at a beachfront hotel about a suspicious vehicle which was later found to be Pillay’s Golf.
Police managed to capture the three suspects and found Pillay’s car keys in the pocket of one of the men arrested. They were taken to Sydenham police station.
Mchunu has appealed to anyone with information on the two murders to urgently call the police so the suspects can face the full might of the law. He also sent his heartfelt condolences to the Panday and Pillay families.
