A 20-year-old Indian-origin man has been arrested in Germany and charged with alleged first-degree murder after his girlfriend was found dead in an apartment in Arizona, US.
The incident took place around 4 pm (local time) on Thursday in Arizona’s Tucson city when the fire department responded to a call for a welfare check near Euclid Avenue and Elm Street. Upon their arrival, the officials found 19-year-old college student Julissa Rubi Salazar dead in the apartment situated near the University of Arizona, Tucson Police Department said.
Officials noticed trauma signs on the girl’s body and called the police. Homicide Unit detectives and police investigated the apartment and analysed the circumstances that led to her death. Arizona’s investigators then identified Salazar’s boyfriend as Varun Batchigari and the suspect in her death.
The police informed that Varun took a flight from the Tucson International Airport in the United States and fled to Germany with further plans to travel to India. However, officials were able to secure an arrest warrant against the 20-year-old Indian-origin man, and charged him with first-degree murder and kidnapping, the New York Post reported.
As Varun landed in Germany, he was arrested upon his arrival that prevented him from reaching India. Authorities said the arrest took place through a joint coordination between TPD, the FBI Tucson Office and the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Berlin.
Varun will be extradited to Arizona, where he will be taken into custody at the Pima County Adult Detention Complex.
“The Tucson Police Department is grateful for the assistance provided by our FBI partners, whose coordination and support were instrumental in locating and apprehending Batchigari,” officials said, 12news reported.
The New York Post, citing KOLD news outlet, reported that Varun was studying Business Analytics at the University of Arizona before being expelled due to a fight.
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