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Tributes paid to British Indian hotel manager who was killed in accident

Tributes paid to British Indian hotel manager who was killed in accident

TRIBUTES have been paid to British Indian hotel manager who was killed in a collision at Kensington High Street last week.

Niksan D’Costa, 27, was crossing the road in west London on Thursday (23) night when he was struck by a vehicle.


According to reports, he was pronounced dead at the scene by the pedestrian crossing near TK Maxx. His social media page says that he lives in London and his family is from Goa, India.

A GoFundMe page has been opened to support his family and raised over £5,000 so far.

The Metropolitan Police informed that a man, 25, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Later, has been released on bail until a later date in May.

Witnesses said that the road was closed following the incident and around 10 police cars descended on the busy London area.

The Evening Standard reported that D’Costa was working as a duty night manager at the Hoxton Hotel Holborn until recently.

“When I started at the hotel he was so nice to me and very supportive. We are in total shock, he was such a lovely guy. Everybody liked him. he was so popular with everyone at the hotel. We are devastated," his former colleague Beth Devine told the newspaper.

Another former colleague, Rodolphe Augusto, described D’Costa as a 'great friend' and 'precious colleague'.

"He was a pure soul, such a lovely person, very helpful and always with a smile on his face. Niksan loved London and he was very focused on the hotel industry, he was a very hard worker and family oriented," Augusto was quoted as saying by the Evening Standard.

The Met said that D’Costa’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

Police appealed anyone who witnessed the accident or who may have dashcam footage to contact the force.

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Indian man left without UK status after wife and daughter died in Air India crash

Among the 260 dead were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, and one Canadian, including Sadikabanu and her daughter

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Indian man left without UK status after wife and daughter died in Air India crash

Highlights

  • Air India Flight 171 crash in June 2025 killed 260 people, including Mohammad Shethwala’s wife and child.
  • Home Office rejected his humanitarian visa, saying no exceptional circumstances.
  • Critics condemned the decision, comparing it to the Windrush scandal.
Mohammad Shethwala came to the UK from India in March 2022 as a dependent on his wife Sadikabanu's student visa, while she pursued her studies at Ulster University's London campus.
The couple settled in the capital, and their daughter Fatima was born in Britain. Life was moving forward.
Sadikabanu had recently started a new job in Rugby and was preparing to apply for a Skilled Worker visa, a step that would have secured the family's future in the UK from 2026 onwards.

That future ended on 12 June 2025. The Ahmedabad-to-London Air India flight went down seconds after take-off, killing all 241 passengers and crew on board, as well as 19 people on the ground after the aircraft struck a medical college hostel building and caught fire.

Among the 260 dead were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens and one Canadian. Sadikabanu and two-year-old Fatima were both on that flight.

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