Friends, fellow students and neighbours of Abhijit Mahato gathered on Tuesday to remember the 29-year-old Indian student of Duke University who was killed in a suspected robbery attempt in his North Carolina apartment in January.

Several police officers, including investigators, joined in the candlelight vigil as Mahato's friends related stories about him.

Friends remembered him as a talented engineer and cook, and a person who was always ready to help his fellow students. On the occasion, Tod Laursen, the professor who recruited Mahato, said that nothing could have been more out of context than the violence that took him away.

Mahato, an IIT alumnus and a native of Tata Nagar who was studying for an engineering doctorate degree at the Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering in Durham, was found shot dead at his residence near the campus on January 18.

Two teenagers, Laurence Lovette and Stephen Oates, were arrested in connection with the murder and later indicted by a grand jury.