Melbourne, April 29 : A 23-year-old Indian student, who was also working as a taxi driver, was brutally stabbed and left bleeding on the roadside on Tuesday.

The Indian was found lying with hypothermia near a hotel in Clifton Hill, several hundred metres from his smashed car and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The victim, whose name has not been released, had stab wounds in the upper body and the homicide squad has been notified “as a precaution”, the police said.

The Indian had apparently just started doing night shifts driving the cabs.

According to detective Senior Constable Brendan Smith, the suspect was possibly a passenger who might have driven the taxi a short distance after the attack before it collided with a power pole.

Smith said the police were unclear of the motives and had not been able to talks to the victim due to his condition. “We are unclear of the motives. We believe there was another person in the taxi,” he said.

Victoria Police were reviewing CCTV footage from the taxi and have released photos that might help identify the attacker.

Taxi drivers blocked a major intersection in central Melbourne to protest the incident. Secretary of the Victorian taxi drivers association, Pritam Singh Gill, said around 200 cabbies blocked Swanston street to demand that all vehicles be fitted immediately with security screens.

“The drivers are very upset with this,” he said.

“The Government promised us the security more than 18 months ago and they haven’t done anything so far,” Gill was quoted as saying by media here.

The police are also unsure whether the assault happened inside the taxi.

“We’re discussing a couple of theories at the moment as to what must have occurred, but can’t say anything until we establish what’s happened in the taxi. And obviously we haven’t been able to speak to the driver because of his condition,” Smith said.

“We’d say that he’s received stab wounds, he is critical and we’re receiving regular updates from the hospital as to his condition,” Smith added.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky described it as a very distressing incident and said the government is working on ways of improving safety of taxi drivers.