Asians ‘being victimised’ because of Trump’s policies, says family of murdered Sikh man

'Indians and Asians as a whole are becoming the victims of racial hatred,' says Gagandeep Singh's uncle

Gagandeep Singh was killed on Tuesday after being attacked in his taxi (Facebook/Gagandeep Singh)

The family of a 22-year-old Sikh man who was stabbed to death in the US on Tuesday has said he was a “victim of racial hatred” exacerbated by the Trump administration.

Gagandeep Singh, a third year software engineering student who was also working as a taxi driver, was allegedly attacked by a passenger he had picked up at Spokane International Airport in Washington State.

The Bonner County Sheriff's Office identified 19-year-old Jacob Corban Coleman as Mr Singh’s attacker.

Coleman is said to have flown from Seattle to Spokane to start as a new student at Gonzaga University in Spokane, but upon arrival he was denied entry.

The university said a person matching Coleman's description had approached housing officials at the campus but was not enrolled as a student and had never been assigned university housing.

Police found no record of his application to the university.

Coleman reportedly left, hailed a taxi and asked Mr Singh to drive him to a fictitious friend’s house in Bonner County, Idaho.

Police said Coleman later admitted that during the journey he “became homicidal” and bought a knife during a stop at a shop.

Mr Singh then stopped in Kootenai, in Bonner County, Idaho, when it became clear Coleman didn't have a real destination.

The police say Coleman then stabbed Mr Singh, who died at the scene.

Coleman surrendered to local police at the crime scene, and was charged with first-degree murder, the Idaho Statesman reports.

Mr Singh, originally from Jalandhar in Punjab, had been living in Washington state since 2003.

He was the nephew of Jalandhar-based congress leader Manmohan Singh Raju, who blamed the Trump administration for “showing exit doors to Asians”.

According to the Hindustan Times, he said: “My nephew became a victim of racial hatred. As the Trump government is now showing exit doors to the Asians due to few job opportunities, Indians and Asians as a whole are becoming the victims of racial hatred.”

Mr Singh’s mother, Kamaljit Kaur, told police that on the night of her son’s murder, she had called him and he told her he was carrying a “white man” in his taxi.

Ms Kaur said during the conversation she had also enquired about the behaviour of the man to which Mr Singh replied that he was a “gentleman”.

She said her family feared something was wrong after her son didn’t pick calls made around 6pm.