International student found dead in South Vancouver

A 24-year-old international student from India was found shot dead in a car in South Vancouver Friday night.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) was called to the scene after residents near East 55th Avenue and Main Street reported hearing gunshots around 11 p.m.

They found 24-year-old Chirag Antil’s body in a vehicle nearby.

Chirag’s family is now raising money through a GoFundMe campaign to repatriate his remains to India.

Police are asking anyone with information to call VPD’s Homicide Unit.

Romit Antil, the victim’s brother from Haryana, Sonipat in India tells CityNews that Chirag was a kind-hearted person.

“My brother and I had a great relationship, we used to talk every day, day and night. I spoke to him last before the accident happened. He was kind of happy, he never had any issues or fights with anyone, ever. He was an extremely polite person,” Romit said in Hindi.

“He was a humanitarian… the kind that would say he could not do anything immoral.”

Chirag moved to Vancouver in September 2022, had just finished his MBA at University Canada West, and had recently gotten his work permit.

Romit says, his brother’s roommate got in touch with his family in India when he heard gunshots near their home, then they received an email from VPD.

“We then got an email from a police constable telling us what happened. We asked the police what happened to my brother, and they are saying ‘we are just investigating,'” he said.

Romit says, Chirag was just heading out to have a good night on his weekend when he got killed.

“He had just finished a 14-hour shift, after work he came home, and ate his food. He had Saturday off so he thought ‘why don’t I go out.’ He had just left his place, and as he sat in his car, he got murdered — from what have been told,” he said.

He tells CityNews that the police have not been transparent with him and his family.

“We don’t even know why he got murdered, where he got hit. His friends don’t even know which hospital he’s at right now, whether his autopsy will happen or not. We don’t know anything,” he said.

“We don’t even have any footage of the incident, his friends didn’t get any footage. Police probably have footage but they’re not sharing it with us.”

Romit tells CityNews that he doesn’t even have proof that his brother is dead right now, and is coming up with his own conclusions as of now.

“His friends think that it might be an accidental murder where someone else was meant to be killed but they accidentally killed him,” Romit said.

He says, because Chirag didn’t have any enemies, there was no other explanation.

“He always spoke to everyone with respect, never raised his voice. He didn’t have anything to do with anyone. If he fought with anyone, we would probably know that he had problems,” he said.

“We don’t have any issues with anyone in India either. So, we’re not able to understand why this happened. We can only conclude that he got murdered accidentally.”

Romit feels helpless and says he and his family want his body returned to India.

“Just this, Canadian government, please just send my brother’s body to India as soon as possible, so that we can be at peace.”