Oct

7

The police in Porter Ranch, Los Angeles made a grisly discovery Monday morning, when they entered the home of Karthik Rajaram, a 45-year old financial manager from a Los Angeles suburb. Inside they found that he had shot his wife, three sons and his mother-in-law to death and then killed himself.

Rajaram held an MBA in Finance from UCLA, and one of the sons he killed was 19-year old Krishna who was majoring in Business Economics at UCLA. The two younger sons Ganesha (12) and Arjuna (7) were also killed in the murder-suicide rampage, as were wife Subhasri (39) and mom-in-law Indra (69).

Having realized his American dream up until a few years ago, Rajaram is said to have been facing economic hardships, and had been jobless for some period. His friends described him as high-strung, never-relaxed, and were told by Rajaram that ‘life wasn’t going in the right direction’. In the end, the extremely hard economic times and the falling stock market took its toll on this hard-working Indian family.

Was this an avoidable tragedy? Was this an act of sheer desperation? Why did Mr. Rajaram hurt his family, and his young sons who definitely did not have any say over his investments or family’s financial decisions? Could Rajaram not find anyone in the Indian community to bail him out? Many of those questions may be answered in the coming days, but that won’t bring back any of the lives that were taken in a fit of frustration.

In a suicide note found at the scene, Rajaram wrote that he felt he had only two options before him - one to take his own life, and the other one to take his life as well as kill all his family members. What compounds the tragedy is the option he chose, and probably the options he thought he had run out of.


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13 Comments so far

  1. kailash on October 7, 2008 7:43 pm

    Yes this is a tragedy. But it is also an act of a psycho. Why did he kill his sons o r his wife or her mother? Senseless act I must say.

  2. Seema on October 7, 2008 7:50 pm

    really shocking and makes me very very angry about how he acted. I was going to say condolences to the family, but this guy killed everybody. I have many friends who have lost a fortune in the stock market and may have felt the same way, but none of them have taken any extreme steps like this. I cant believe he killed his sons. What’s their fault? Being his sons?

  3. Chan on October 8, 2008 3:23 am

    Is he white?

  4. Parmesh on October 8, 2008 5:14 am

    No, he is not white
    He was born and raised in India. He is from a highly reputed (and tough to get into) engineering institue in India. Did MBA from UCLA.

  5. sam on October 8, 2008 7:45 pm

    However educated he may be, [IIT + UCLA MBA] he was morally corrupt & weak minded as well as extremely greedy. Did not have ANY right to take his family’s life. Total lack of moral strength. Sad story.

  6. Chan on October 8, 2008 8:42 pm

    Soooooo is he a white indian?

  7. anony on October 8, 2008 9:37 pm

    @chan

    hes INDIAN..

  8. ashokrathi on October 9, 2008 12:15 am

    Chan,

    this was an asian-indian family who migrated to the USA in late 1980s.

    Agree with Sam that this person had no right to take his family’s life no matter how seriously wrong things had been going.

  9. No respect and no pity for Psycho parents : It’s Indiatime on October 9, 2008 8:02 am

    [...] Karthik Rajaram, Los Angeles NRI, murders family and kills self [...]

  10. R.Venkatasubramanian on October 9, 2008 8:30 am

    He is a coward. He could have returned back to India with his family and searched for a job. He would have reovered.

    It is a lesson for those who are greedy and running after money beyond their capacity without keeping sufficient funds for his family.

  11. Akbar Shaikh on October 9, 2008 8:01 pm

    This is the most tragic news I heard this year. Killing one person is killing the whole humanity. My religion wont let me curse a dead man. Because now his fate lies with his Creator. But only Bastards do things like that. He dont deserve to have those kids and families. His dad was a far more greater man and a proud indian to raise him through thick and thin and made him able to have a future. And what his dad done for him is honorable and what Karthik done is bringing shame and disgrace to his family.I dont care what he told police or write to his family as honorable thing he did. People like Karthik should be burn in hell for eternity, but who am i to decide. God is the best judge for all. I am a proud dad of 4 year old son and I really feel blessed. I will raise him inshallah as my dad raised me. We made our fortunes and will make a future not from playing stocks or gambling but faith in family and hard work. I will pray for all these departed soul except Karthik. Inallahe wah ina elahi Rajaon. May God set them in peace. In end I would like to say we are all mortals we all have to die one day and be judged for ours actions and duties to families, friends and humans. Those kids were taken by God because Karthik was not the right person to have them in first place. He was a dirty blood to begin with. But again it is a sad sad world. Again, Please forgive me readers for throwing my anger like that. I never blog before but I cant hold my emotions and cant sleep past few days. Its a shame to see any indian or pakistani people done horrible and crazy act like that. I cant expect them for doing such thinks. Because subcontinent is one of the oldest civilization and civilized nations and its people dont do stuff like that. May god bless those departed soul with his love and affection. God is real father of those kids not Karthik.

  12. 10 things to do before writing a suicide note : It’s Indiatime on October 14, 2008 8:33 am

    [...] Karthik Rajaram, Los Angeles NRI, murders family and kills self [...]

  13. lynnie on May 15, 2009 3:37 am

    i like that game

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