Victim withdrew tens of thousands before death

A 21-year-old man whose burning body was found in south Auckland last week withdrew tens of thousands of dollars from his bank account hours before he died, police revealed today.

Police investigating the homicide of Shalvin Prasad this morning said they believed the money, which has not been located, was related to his death.

It is not believed Mr Prasad was involved in any illegal activity.

Police would not disclose the exact amount withdrawn but said it was "in the tens of thousands range" and withdrawn about eight hours before he went missing.

"People may well speculate as to how a 21-year-old came to have a large sum of money but at this stage of the investigation police emphasise that here is no indication that Shalvin was involved in any illegal activity," Detective Inspector Dave Lynch said.

Mr Lynch said Mr Prasad was "a diligent saver and checks of his banking history confirm that this money was gradually saved over a long period".

The money was withdrawn from a term investment, "which suggests to us that there was some recent event or activity that motivated Shalvin to withdraw this money without the knowledge of his family", Mr Lynch said.

Mr Lynch said CCTV footage at the bank showed Mr Prasad was alone when he withdrew the money and he showed no obvious signs of fearing for his safety.

He said Mr Prasad had been described by his family as "innocent and naive" and it was possible somebody had taken advantage of that.

He said police were investigating whether he was the victim of fraud or if he was bribed or blackmailed.

The development comes the day after the funeral for Mr Prasad, whose scorched body was found in a scrub fire on Thursday.

A homicide investigation was confirmed at the weekend.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr Prasad was when he left his parent's house at 8.30pm last Wednesday, when he said he had been going to play pool.

Mr Lynch said there was no indication Mr Prasad had actually played pool.

He said a text message from Mr Prasad's phone to his parents at 9.45pm said he would be home at 10.30pm. That text was sent via the Drury telecommunications tower, which had a broad range and didn't necessarily mean Mr Prasad was in Drury, Mr Lynch said.

The withdrawn money was discovered later that night by Mr Prasad's parents when they checked the account online after becoming worried about their son not returning home.

"The police investigation will focus on anyone who had knowledge of the fact that Shalvin had a large sum of money with him and believe that identifying such persons will assist in progressing the investigation," Mr Lynch said.

There had been no strong evidence to suggest when Mr Prasad's car was parked on Plunkett Ave in Papatoetoe, where it was found at the weekend.

Mr Lynch said it was believed he either arranged to meet somebody there and was taken away by a "person or persons" or the people involved in his death took his car back there.

He said the closest security camera had footage only back to 4pm on Saturday but a forensic analysis of the CCTV was hoping to access earlier footage.

- Kieran Campbell