Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday called on the Australian government to punish the killers of Indian student Nitin Garg.

The Australian government "is duty bound and morally bound to investigate and bring the culprit to book," Krishma said in a statement to the press at the southern city of Bangalore.

"That is the least the Australian government can do and that is what we expect," Krishna said.

Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh in Canberra has taken up the issue with the Australian government "in the strongest possible terms", he said.

Garg, 21, an accounting graduate from Punjab, was stabbed to death in West Footscray Saturday while on his way to work, according to local media reports.

The deadly accident took place in the wake of a wave of attacks upon Indian students in Australia last year.