Abhijit Mahato

Washington, Jan. 24: Police in North Carolina have charged a teenager with the murder of Abhijit Mahato, an Indian student at Duke University.

The arrest of Stephen Lavance Oates Jr, 19, came after a car chase when police surveillance teams chanced upon a station wagon that matched the description of one used in an earlier robbery in the Duke University campus.

The chase ended when the station wagon was forced to stop ahead of spiked metal sticks placed on a highway to flatten the vehicle’s tyres, according to accounts in the local media.

The station wagon had four occupants, the police said. In addition to Oates, William Dozia Smith, 20, and two others, whose names were not revealed because they are minors aged 14, were arrested for robbery, possession of a dangerous weapon and attempt to flee from lawful arrest.

Of the four, only Oates has been accused so far of Mahato’s murder in addition to the robbery charges slapped on him.

There are 70 cases of robbery in and around the area of Duke University since January 1 alone. The arrests may provide clues to the police about these cases, several of which occurred inside the campus.

Oates, an African American, has also been charged with an armed robbery in two apartments on Sunday and another robbery and assault at a restaurant on Saturday.

The police, city officials and Duke authorities held a meeting yesterday on safety steps for the students even as they brought in private security guards into the campus to have joint patrols with the police, according to university officials.

A memorial service for Mahato will be held in the Duke campus on Friday and a funeral service organised by Hindu Society of North Carolina will take place on Sunday, Indian students said.

Meanwhile, police suspect that a money dispute was behind another case in which the body of a woman of Indian origin, Vanlata Patel, 57, was found off a highway in Virginia. Her body was found in a charred condition after police investigated a brush fire near the highway. Patel and her husband, Harsh, 59, were living in Cary, North Carolina, until they separated in September last year.

The couple is said to have $400,000 in Swiss accounts, according to reports in the local media.