Indian community mourns student death in Ottawa

The family of an Indian international student who died in Ottawa late last month is mourning her loss, with some questioning how the investigation has been handled while the immediate family asks others to "refrain from sharing unverified details."

Vanshika Saini was a 21-year-old student about to graduate from Algonquin College with a degree in health administration. Her body was found on April 27 at Dick Bell Park.

Police said foul play is not suspected.

On Monday, Ottawa Police sent out a news release with a lengthy statement they attributed to the Saini family.

In the statement, the Saini family said only the immediate family is receiving updates and speaking with investigators.

"From the earliest moments of her disappearance, the Ottawa Police Service has been in regular and consistent contact with our immediate family," the statement read.

"Please understand this is deeply personal and while we continue to heal as a family, we are confident that the police have approached this case with thoughtfulness, diligence, and a sincere commitment to keeping us informed from the outset."

"We kindly ask that people refrain from sharing unverified details, as doing so only deepens an already painful time for our family and compounds our grief," the statement read.

The family notes some individuals who have spoken publicly are not directly involved in ongoing communications with police.

Some in community had questions

On Sunday, Saini's cousin Deepkaur said she and other family members had been given inconsistent answers about the circumstances of Saini's death, with OPS saying at different times that she'd been found at Britannia Beach, at Dick Bell Park and even that she'd been pulled directly from the water.

In addition to when and where her body was found, the family wants other answers, Deepkaur said, like why Saini left her apartment that night and what happened next. 

"We are living like hell over here, and we don't know anything," she said. "No one here is eating properly, no one is sleeping properly.… We just want answers about what had happened to her — why and when and how."

On Sunday, a small group gathered at Dick Bell Park to both mourn Saini and echo the family's call for more answers.

"There was no alert. Nobody was told to look for this young girl," said Rasna Arora, who said they have been in contact with some members of Saini's family and organized the gathering.

OPS had earlier issued a statement Sunday morning acknowledging the community's concerns about how the case was handled.

"Each case receives careful consideration, and this one was no exception," it said. "We can assure the community that it was approached with professionalism, urgency, and a deep sense of responsibility from the outset."

News made headlines in India

Arora said news of Saini's death had made headlines in India.

"There are people [in those articles] saying, 'We told you, don't send your child to Canada, don't send them to Ottawa, our children are not safe,'" Arora said.

"That's not true, but that is the perception that's going to stay there unless we come up and say, 'No, we do care about people who come here.'"

Saini's body is expected to be repatriated to India by Wednesday, Arora added.

Bay ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, who represents the area where Saini's body was found, said police had told her that they don't believe there's any risk to public safety. 

"It's more complicated because she's from another country," Kavanagh told CBC. "It's very difficult to get details about what happened."

In the meantime, Saini's family is mourning her from afar.

"I don't have any words [to describe] how the current situation is here," Deepkaur said.  "You can just imagine a family who had a lot of dreams for their daughter."