Police are hoping the discovery of Kingseat homicide victim Shalvin Prasad's
mobile phone can help them find his killer.
Mr Prasad's body was discovered on fire at 6.30am on January 31 by a member
of the public, about 5m back from McRobbie Road in Kingseat, south of
Auckland.
A statement from Counties Manukau police says a member of the public found Mr
Prasad's mobile phone on Wednesday and handed it in to police.
The phone is now with the police electronic crime laboratory for forensic
testing.
Police did not say where the phone was found, and a police spokesman told NZ
Newswire that inquiry head Detective Inspector Dave Lynch informed them no more
information about it would be made public, except that they don't think the
person who handed it in is a suspect.
Police revealed on Tuesday that Mr Prasad had withdrawn tens of thousands of
dollars from the bank eight hours before he went missing on January 30.
Det Insp Lynch said none of Mr Prasad's immediate family could give any
reason why he withdrew such a large amount of money.
"We're still interested in hearing from any member of the public who has any
information about why Shalvin would be motivated to withdraw this money or what
has happened to the money."
He said Mr Prasad's family were however able to give more details about what
he was wearing and what other items he was carrying.
He was wearing a maroon-coloured Canterbury short-sleeved t-shirt with white
threading. He also had dark grey three-quarter pants and black billabong
jandals.
He also had a key ring with three keys and a piece of paper with either Rav4
or ZG1674 on it, and a black and white imitation leather wallet with a puzzle
design which also had an ASB eftpos card and a driver's licence.
NZN