Police identify murder victims of US-based Indian-origin techie as wife and children

SAN FRANCISCO: Police in the US state of California have identified the victims of a gruesome murder allegedly committed by an Indian-origin IT professional last month as that of his wife and three children.

Shankar Nagappa Hangud, 53, was arrested in October after he dramatically walked into a Northern California police station along with a dead body in his car and confessed to have killed three others at his apartment, over 350 kilometres away.

Roseville Police had declined to name the four victims that time, but said they were all members of the suspect's family.

On Wednesday, Placer County authorities identified the four victims as Hangud's 46-year-old wife Jyothi Shankar, his sons -- 20-year-old Varum Shankar and 13-year-old Nischal Hangud, and daughter 16-year-old Gauri Hangud, the KCRA news channel reported.

Hangud allegedly murdered his wife, his daughter and his youngest son on October 7 in their Roseville apartment at the Woodcreek West complex on Junction Boulevard.

He later killed his older son, somewhere between Roseville and Mount Shasta, where he surrendered to police on October 13 with his son's body.

Hangud had pleaded not guilty to the murder charges at his arraignment last month.

He is currently lodged in the South Placer Jail.

A motive for the slayings remains unclear.

However, tax records revealed that Hangud faced a federal tax lien of USD 178,603 from the Internal Revenue Service this year, The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.