Police at the scene of the incident on Hillary Street in Liberton. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
A Punjabi community member says a man found dead at his Dunedin home on Monday had security concerns in the weeks prior to his death.
Police have named the man as 27-year-old Gurjit Singh. He lived at the Hillary Street house where he was found in Liberton, Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis said.
"Dunedin-based investigators and Christchurch-based ESR scientists continue to examine the scene," he said.
"A significant effort is being put into establishing the circumstances that led to this unexplained death. Police have a responsibility on behalf of the victim's family and the wider community (notwithstanding our coronial responsibilities), to establish fact.
"A team of 25 investigators are interviewing and speaking with family, friends and work colleagues of the victim, to try and establish his movements prior to his death."
A post-mortem examination was scheduled for tomorrow in Christchurch, he said.
Singh was last seen on Sunday night, Narindervir Singh from the Otago Punjabi Foundation Trust said.
"After having dinner with friends at their house, around 10.30pm I think, he came back home. Then in the morning the family from India called the friends and said that he wasn't answering the phone," Narindervir said.
"So one of the friends went… and when he arrived at the house, as soon as he opened the door he said he was able to see him lying in the courtyard, in an open area. His turban was not on his head and there were a lot of wounds on his body, open wounds that were clearly visible."
The friend then rang emergency services, he said.
Two weeks prior, Gurjit had arrived home to find his garage door unlocked, Narindervir said.
"He saw his garage door open, which raised concerns about the security of the house so he thought he should install CCTV cameras and actually, he bought CCTV cameras."
It was not known if they had been installed.
Gurjit worked for Downer on subcontracted work for fibre company Chorus. A spokesperson said Chorus and Downer were providing "support and aroha to colleagues during what is a difficult time".
Neighbours on Hillary Street told RNZ they had not heard or seen anything suspicious over the weekend.
Narindervir said Gurjit had lived in Dunedin for two years, and described him as nice and friendly.
"He moved recently to this property because his wife was coming from India to meet him, and he bought a lot of stuff to set up a house because he wanted to give her a good experience and create a lot of memories in the new house, so he was pretty excited."
Gurjit's wife was due to arrive in the next few weeks.
Police at the scene of the incident on Hillary Street in Liberton. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
His family back in India were in shock and traumatised by the man's death, Narindervir said. The local Punjabi community was also unsettled.
"What was pretty surprising was he was found at about 8.30am. From 6am it starts getting bright, and by 8.30am it's pretty light… that's concerning that nobody has seen him lying there in that position, that nobody had done a morning walk.
"We just request that if somebody has seen anything, please do let the police know. This hard-working man, honest person who was trying to settle his family in this beautiful city has lost his life and the reasons are unknown, it's a mystery," Narindervir said. "Nobody deserves to die like this."
Police asked anyone who had CCTV footage or saw any unusual activity on Hillary Street on Sunday 28 and Monday 29 January to contact 105 and reference file number 240129/7479.
