TORONTO, Sept 12: Three people were killed in a Toronto hotel where Mukhtaran Mai, the Pakistani gang-rape victim, was staying in connection with an international film festival.

Many Torontonians thought one of the victims could be Mai but that was not the case. Police are investigating the death of two men and a woman, all in their early 30s, who were stabbed to death in the Delta Chelsea Hotel, which is playing host to a conference of judges and magistrates from Commonwealth countries. Many guests of the Toronto Film Festival are also staying in the hotel.

The blood-soaked body of an unidentified man was found in the hallway of the hotel’s 19th floor on Monday morning. And a trail of blood led to a room where police found another man dead on the bed and a woman’s body lying on the floor.

Police declined to release the names of the victims and their Nationality, saying: “It’s an early stage of investigation and you have to wait.”

Detective Sergeant Steve Ryan told reporters: “We still don’t know the motive.”

Sponsors of Mukhtaran’s trip to Canada said Mai was safe. They said she was not staying on the 19th floor and, moreover, she had left the hotel in the afternoon and departed for Ottawa.