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Illinois Man Accused of Setting Apartment Fire That Killed Pregnant Daughter, Her Family
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
MARKHAM, Ill. — A suburban Chicago man is accused of setting an apartment fire — killing his pregnant daughter, her husband and their young child — because the son-in-law didn't ask permission for the marriage, prosecutors said.
Subhash Chander, 57, of Oak Forest was ordered held without bond Tuesday on three counts of first-degree murder, one count of intentional homicide of an unborn child and one count of aggravated arson.
Prosecutors allege Chander used gasoline to start the fire late Saturday. The India native told police he disliked his son-in-law because he belonged to a lower caste and had married his daughter without his consent, said Cook County First Assistant State's Attorney Robert Milan.
"His son-in-law was beneath him in his opinion," Milan said.
But Chander's sister, Kamla Devi, told WBBM-AM that her brother is innocent. She said that relatives approved of the marriage and that the caste system was not a consideration for her family in India, nor is it a consideration now in the United States.
"There was no family problem. There was nothing going on. Absolutely nothing," Devi said.
Devi told the radio station that the family is from Chandigarh in northern India.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said the victims died of carbon-monoxide poisoning and smoke and soot inhalation.
Milan identified the victims as 22-year-old Monika Rani, her 36-year-old husband, Rajesh Kumar, and their 3-year-old son, Vansh. Rani was five months pregnant, Milan said.
Chander had a public defender in bond court Tuesday, Milan said, but The Associated Press was unable to determine who it was. A call to a listing for Chander reached a man who said it was a wrong number.
Chander told police the gasoline spilled during "a pushing match" with his son-in-law, Milan said. Chander also told police that he ignited the gas with a lighter because he was angry, Milan said.
But prosecutors said the victims may have been asleep. All other residents of the apartment building were able to escape, Milan said.
It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze, which gutted the 36-unit Le Claire Station Apartments.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319409,00.html

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Manhunt for Father Suspected of Killing Teen Girls
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
IRVING, Texas — Police continued searching for a man suspected of shooting his two teenage daughters, including one who called 911 about an hour before officers found them dead in his taxi, police said.
Yaser Abdel Said, 50, of the Dallas suburb of Lewisville, is accused of shooting Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, in his taxi Tuesday night and abandoning it in a parking lot, leaving them to die.
Police have not released a motive for the shootings, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition Wednesday.
One of the teens called 911 on a cell phone about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and said she was shot, but she couldn't tell police where she was, Irving police said.
Officers were dispatched to the area, which turned out to be about half a mile from the taxi, but didn't find anyone, The Dallas Morning News reported in its online edition Wednesday. Police found the taxi with the bodies inside an hour later after a witness called and reported a suspicious vehicle in a hotel parking lot, said David Tull, an Irving police spokesman.
Police described Yaser Abdel Said as about 6-foot-2, weighing about 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black turtleneck shirt or sweater, a brown coat and tan pants. He is believed to be armed with a handgun, police said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319525,00.html