An Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were found dead in their 4-million-pound ($5 million) mansion in Massachusetts, United States, in what is being seen as a possible murder-suicide case.
Rakesh Kamal, 57; his wife, Teena; and their daughter, Arianna, 18, were found dead on Thursday in their luxurious mansion located in one of the richest enclaves in Dover, Massachusetts.
The preliminary investigation by local authorities hints at a “deadly incident of domestic violence,” according to the district attorney. A gun was found near Rakesh’s body, but the police have not revealed if all three were shot dead.
The couple was in some financial distress after their education systems company, EduNova, went defunct, per local media reports. They filed for bankruptcy in September 2022.
Rakesh, an alumnus of Boston University, Stanford University, and the MIT Sloan School of Management, had worked in education consulting before starting an Ed-Tech firm with his wife Teena in 2016.
Teena Kamal, an alumna of Harvard University and Delhi University in India, was the chief operating officer of the company.
The company marketed itself as a “student success system,” which would help students in middle school, high school, and college improve their grades. Initially, EduNova did well, and the couple was eventually able to buy their 19,000-square-foot estate in 2019.
However, the company was dissolved in 2019, which led to a financial crisis. The mansion, estimated to be worth about $5.45 million, went into foreclosure a year ago.
Teena, Rakesh, and Arianna were the only ones who used to live in the house, the DA said. Their daughter, Arianna, was studying neuroscience at Middlebury College, a private liberal arts school in Vermont.
The incident came to light after one of their relatives stopped by to check on the family since they had not been answering their calls.
Although the investigation is at a very preliminary stage, the evidence available at this time does not indicate the involvement of any outside party but suggests that this is a deadly incident of domestic violence,” read a statement from the DA’s office.
The District Attorney said that he will be able to decide if this is a suicide or a murder only after the ruling of the medical examiner has come through, according to a report in USA Today.
“All I can tell you is there was a gun on the premises, and it was apparent to all those that went in that all three members of the family were dead,” he added.
