[citation needed] In October 2018, Chau traveled to and established his residence at Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he prepared an initial contact kit including picture cards for communication, gifts for Sentinelese people, medical equipment, and other necessities.

[6] In August 2018, the Indian Home Ministry had removed 29 inhabited islands in Andaman and Nicobar from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime, in an attempt to promote tourism.

[13][14][15] In November, Chau embarked on a journey to North Sentinel Island, which he thought could be "Satan's last stronghold on Earth",[16] with the aim of contacting and living among the Sentinelese.

[21] Chau expressed a clear desire to convert the tribe and was aware of the legal and mortal risks he was taking by his efforts, writing in his diary, "Lord, is this island Satan's last stronghold, where none have heard or even had the chance to hear your name?

[27] Eventually, according to Chau's last letter, when he tried to hand over fish and gifts, a boy shot a metal-headed arrow that pierced the Bible he was holding in front of his chest, after which he retreated again.

[6] In response to Chau's death, M. Sasikumar of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies questioned the legal charge of murder and what he perceived as a romanticized version of the incident in the media.

[3] Michael Schönhuth, professor at the University of Trier, Germany, explored the media response to Chau's killing from a standpoint of cultural anthropology.

He wrote that the narratives that emerged were part of a larger discussion regarding the proper relationship between the modern world and the remaining isolated indigenous peoples.

Schönhuth wrote that state sanctioning of controlled, responsible contacts with isolated people groups such as the Sentinelese still remains a subject of heavy debate, even among experts.

By contrast uncontrolled, privately organized contact, as in the case of Chau, is widely forbidden and condemned for the significant risk of lethal infections against the unprotected immune system of isolated communities.