The assault happened near the entrance to Franklin Park in Braunstone Town outside Leicester at 7.30am on Sunday 1 September. 80-year-old Bhim Kohli was then out with his dog when he was attacked with pushes and kicks on the back and neck by a group of youths, who then fled the scene before the arrival of the police. The assault is said to have taken place in the vicinity of Kohli’s residence.
Kohli was seriously injured in the attack and was treated in hospital but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
– After the tragic death of the victim, this has now become a murder investigation. My colleagues are actively working to try to get a picture of the course of events and we have arrested several people in the quest to understand what happened, says Emma Matts, Detective Inspector at Leicestershire Police.
Twelve-year-olds among the suspects
Initially, a fourteen-year-old girl was arrested in connection with the incident. After that, four more young people have been arrested on suspicion of the assault. The suspects are three girls and two boys, aged twelve to fourteen.
A witness, a neighbor of Kohli’s for 35 years, suspects that there are racial motives for the crime as other racially motivated assaults have occurred in the area recently. Among other things, another man of Asian descent is said to have been subjected to verbal and physical attacks, reports say Leicester Mercury.
The local police have stated that they are in desperate need of additional witness information.