Indian-origin taxi driver Hiren Mohini’s murderer hid badly injured leg before escape

AUCKLAND - The man suspected of killing an Indian-born Auckland taxi driver, Hiren Mohini, reportedly told his flatmates in the days following the murder that a badly injured leg was caused by a game of basketball.

One female resident told the New Zealand Herald that he had to use a stool to walk around the modest high-rise unit afterwards and was in obvious pain.

“He said he had been poked by a nail or stone [playing basketball],” she said, pointing to her left knee.

“He seemed very hurt and couldn’t move,” she added.

The woman asked if he needed to see a doctor and he refused, saying: “It’s okay. I just need some painkillers”.

She was “shocked” when, more than two weeks later, she first heard her flatmate was suspected of fatally stabbing Mohini, 39, on View Rd in Mt Eden on January 31.

“He was always happy, always joking,” she said.

Another male flatmate described him as “very proper, very quiet”.

Both said he mainly kept to himself and played video games.

Police have successfully applied to the courts for an order suppressing the publication of all details that might lead to the identification of the man.

Officers recovered a knife in the days following the killing, which the head investigator described as a “vicious” and “frenzied” attack, and canvassed hospitals for people with fitting injuries.

Police did not come knocking at the apartment until February 19, his female flatmate said.

She and the two other residents were put up in a hotel so officers could fingerprint and forensically test the unit.

He spent his last night in New Zealand at a friend’s place. Before leaving he paid the female flatmate back the 280 dollars he had borrowed for rent. (ANI)