Phone clue in charity murder hunt

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Police in India investigating the murder of a 23-year-old British charity worker are now following a "significant new lead", it has emerged.

The body of Swansea University graduate Michael Blakey, of Burnley, Lancashire, was found in Dharamsala in November.

Police had been questioning local man Pawan Bharadwaj, who is the husband of Rachel Owen, a colleague of Mr Blakey.

But Mr Bharadwaj was released on Sunday and his father-in-law said they were now looking at robbery as a motive.

Mr Blakey's body was found with head and face injuries in a gully close to a church where he had been a member. He was last seen three days before on 25 November.

He had been in India for five months working with the Tong-Len Charitable Trust, helping refugees. Colleagues there said they feared he suffered a "brutal attack".

There is so much rumour but it would seem a robbery took place Professor Gareth Owen

Mr Bharadwaj, 28, was held by police for almost two weeks with his wife Ms Owen, 35, from Edinburgh and her family protesting his innocence.

Ms Owen's mother, Anna Owen, a director of the Tong-Len charity the pair worked for, is now in India with her daughter.

On Tuesday, Ms Owen's father - Professor Gareth Owen - revealed that police had found Mr Blakey's mobile phone, which was stolen along with his credit cards when he was attacked.

"The police talk of the find of the mobile phone as 'significant'. There is so much rumour but it would seem a robbery took place," he said.

Prof Owen, a retired professor from Heriot-Watt University, said his family welcomed his son-in-law's release.

"It is fantastic, it is a tremendous relief Pawan has been released, coming as it does at this time of year. It is measured with concern we have for Michael's parents. It is a very difficult time for his mother and father."

Phone clue

Prof Owen said Mr Blakey's mobile had been traced to a shop in the city of Ludhiana in the Punjab region.

The owner was questioned and later released, with detectives now focusing on finding the person - or persons - who sold the phone to the shop, he added.

The death of the first-class honours graduate in development studies has shocked his friends in south Wales, where he was well-known for his charity work with the Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Group.

Mr Blakey was also an active member of the Methodist church at the university, whose chaplain, the Reverend Richard Hall, said the death was "heartbreaking".

Dharamsala lies at the foot of the Himalayas and is the long-term home of the Dalai Lama and is the centre of India's large Tibetan community.