On Saturday, Subhash Chander went to the door of his daughter and son-in-law’s apartment, poured gas outside of it, and dropped his lighter. Inside, 22-year old Monika Rani, 36-year old Rajesh Arora and their three-year old son Vansh were sleeping. Monika was five months pregnant with this monster’s next grandchild.
All three perished of smoke/soot inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Their charred bodies were recovered later; little Vansh was found in the hallway, I wonder if he woke up, scared from the blaze and ran for her. Three innocent people, dead. Several dozen more, most of whom were new immigrants from India, homeless, but thankfully, alive. And for what?
A cultural slight?
Arora was from a “lower caste” than Subhash Chander, whose actions obviously bring glory to his lofty peers. Chander did not approve of his son-in-law and there are conflicting reports of Arora marrying without the man’s permission. Even if such things are true, incinerating three innocent people while selfishly, thoughtlessly threatening the lives of so many others takes a special kind of psychopath.
Subhash Chander, 57, told police that he resented the couple for what he considered a “cultural slight” — that his daughter Monika Rani, 22, had married a man from a lower caste and done so without his consent, according to a court document.
Chander and his son-in-law had a strained relationship throughout his marriage to Rani, which lasted a little more than three years, said First Assistant Cook County State’s Atty. Robert Milan.
“Apparently there’s been trouble going on between the two of them for years,” Milan said. “It’s pretty clear from the defendant’s own statements and other evidence that we have that he did not like his son-in-law at all.”
Chander was charged Monday night with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of intentional homicide of an unborn child and one count of aggravated arson. Judge Martin E. McDonough ordered him held without bail Tuesday during a hearing in Markham. [Chicago Tribune]
Chander’s story is that there was a shoving match with his son-in-law, while he was holding a container of gas. Some of it “splashed” around inadvertently and then…
Chander told police that he became “upset and angry” and pulled a lighter from his pocket and set the carpet on fire, according to a court record. [Chicago Tribune]
Because that explanation somehow makes this situation better? Is setting fire to a carpet a harmless way to register your discontent? Beyond that stupidity, there is this curious fact:
…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. [CNN]
Incidentally, these murders occurred in Cook County, which is also where officials spent a quarter of a million dollars looking for flakey and apparently oblivious-to-leaving-a-note Anu Solanki. Enough about her, though– there is a far uglier coincidence to consider:
The incident was the third case in five months in which fire was used during a domestic dispute involving an Indian family in the Chicago suburbs.
In November, authorities said a 34-year-old Glendale Heights father set fire to his two young sons. The three survived, though the boys remain in critical condition. In August, a 32-year-old Naperville mother set her house on fire, killing herself and her two children.
Both cases involved couples who had moved recently from India and had troubled marriages. [Chicago Tribune]
There is conflicting information regarding the family dynamics, from friends of the couple:
A friend, Brijesh Patel, 32, recalled attending the couple’s wedding four years ago and noticing Rani’s family.
Patel said he spoke with Rani’s husband about five months ago and was unaware that he was having problems with Chander.
“He was happy with the way things were going,” Patel said. [Chicago Tribune]
But (the alleged motive) made little sense to Sandeep Kaur, who was good friends with Rani and her husband. Kaur said Tuesday that before Rani got married in 2002 at a Chicago area Hindu temple, Chander called the prospective groom’s parents in India to offer his approval for the union. Kaur said she thought Rani and her husband came from the same elite Indian caste. In Hindu Indian culture, it’s common for families to seek to match a child with someone of the same caste or social order, experts say. [Sun Times]
Chander’s sister also disputed the caste angle:
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. [CNN]
If “absolutely nothing” was wrong, why did he burn them to death? And how cold is this?
After the fire was started, Chander told police that he went back to his apartment across the street and placed the remaining gasoline in a trash bin. He did not report the fire, nor did he call his daughter to make sure she and her family were safe, Milan said. [Chicago Tribune]
How they found him:
Milan said a gas station attendant identified Chander in a lineup, and that officers recovered the plastic pharmaceutical jug that held the gas and had a prescription label with Chander’s name on it.
About two hours before the blaze, Chander purchased gasoline from a Citgo station less than a mile away, prosecutors said. Chander gave the attendant $5 but only filled up $3.24 in gas before leaving the station with the container and walking down the street, said Terrill Starks, the station attendant.
“That’s when I thought there was something suspicious about him,” Starks said. “Why would he forget his change?” [Chicago Tribune]
…………………………………….
News Tab: Condekedar
Tip Line: Rani, Dipti, Deena
Thanks, all.
What a tragic story. Has there been anything set up in terms of a memorial or a fund to help the other families made homeless?
Horrible, just horrible.
1 · ashu said
In all the articles I read so far, no, but if anyone knows of either, please leave a comment.
I’m trying to find one of the other articles so I can cite this, but I think traditionally, this building was full of people who were saving for their first home or who were students; there was this line in one of the stories about a family who saw it burn, about how that was their home before they could buy one of their own. I also read that it is owned by someone desi. Brown, brown, brown, and tragedy all around.
Isn’t Arora Kshatriya? What is Chander, I don’t think it’s Brahmin, is it? Isn’t it Jat? If so, when did Jat become higher than Kshatriya? WTF!
From the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-arson_webjan02,1,7685092.story
On Monday morning, former residents of the gutted building lined up in the cold to get access to their apartments and salvage what they could.
But many of the apartments were destroyed by the fire or the water used to fight the blaze. Because the building is considered unsafe, residents were escorted to their apartment and could only stand outside while firefighters gathered what they could for them.
“All I have left is this jacket and what I’m wearing,” a distraught Karamjit Singh said after firefighters combed through his apartment and came out empty-handed. “I just don’t believe this happened.”
“We have to start over and find a new place,” said Ruchi Patel, as she wrapped herself in a blanket.
The Le Claire Avenue apartment complex had become home to newly arrived, working-class immigrants, particularly from India, former residents said. Although it’s not necessarily close-knit, the community was friendly and the building owned and managed by an Indian-American who helped make the transition to the Midwest pleasant for newcomers.
“It was a good place for us,” said Patel, 18, who had moved to the complex two months ago. Many of the residents were students, elderly immigrants or newly married couples who stayed there long enough to buy their own homes, she said.
On Monday afternoon, Simranjit Singh, who used to live in the building, stood outside the ruins with his wife and two children. When he first arrived in the Chicago area, his family stayed in the complex and made friends there, he said. They were sad to see the building destroyed and to know lives were lost.
I dont think it matters what the caste is/was. The fact is simple – the dad planned and carried out a cold blooded murder. This guy should go to jail for a long time.
I dont know if it was the caste that set him off or something else. Either ways, I am tired of people so concerned with caste, religion or whatever else, that they think something like this is okay. It is absolutely not. Not if they are in Amrika or back home. It just isnt and I dont think there should be any excuses.
4 · caste question said
I don’t know the answer to that and hope I never do because it’s absolutely irrelevant to this piece.
Agreed–you shouldn’t kill people no matter what caste they are. I hope all of the other residents are okay and find homes soon 🙁
There’s one detail bothering me in this story. How did Chander manage to get gas from a filling station in a pharmaceutical container, a container that was not approved by the fire department for holding gasoline? Or do Illinois state laws not require the container to be of a specifically approved type?
Regarding the caste question, I don’t think the specific castes involved are relevant, BUT it is possible that Chander hated his son-in-law for personal reasons and called him “low caste” as an epithet, irrespective of what castes they identified with. The fact that he mentioned caste to the cops is an indication he holds the system to be important. Either way, burning someone alive, for whatever reason, could be considered slightly excessive.
Don’t most grandparents come around after the baby is born? How could he do this, knowing his three-year old grandson was inside? Nm, how could he do it, period…
7 · Shalu said
How is it irrelevant? The entire basis for murder of 3 people is entirely based upon grandpa’s notion of caste hierarchy. Did you read the article?
Anna,
Thanks for covering this. I live in Oak forest IL and about a mile from where this apt. bldg got gutted. There is a Yahoo group started by some one in our community- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Leclairestationapts/ to assist the survivors and those affected.
This evening after work I am going to meet them and help with whatever I can. If there is anything that can be addressed here, i will post it tonight or tomorrow AM.
Cliff.
he had one grandson already, if that didnt work for him I doubt the unborn baby would have brought much mirth to this heartless bastard. In fact, I wonder if the event of another baby instigated him further. This news has saddened my day 🙁 I hope the people who lost out in the fire are reprieved soon.
Pingpong: there ARE laws in Illinois that your gas container must be approved for use. What happened in this case, I think, is that Chander filled up his container and then walked inside to pay for the gas. The attendant probably didn’t notice or care whether Chander was “up-to-code” with his gas container.
The issue of caste is totally irrelevant, I agree. This Chander guy is clearly mentally unstable and an outright criminal, plain and simple.
What this story highlights (along with the other fire-murders by Indians in Illinois) is the lack of stability in many Indian immigrant families. I was also intrigued by the “working-class” description of all of these incidents. It definitely shows a certain morbid “maturity” to our community, past the stereotypes of doctors, engineers and Wall Street bankers. The folks in these recent tragic stories worked night shifts assembling circuit boards (Glendale Heights father), worked in hotel gift shops (Solanki missing-wife case), and lived in hardscrabble apartment complexes.
Having been born and bred in the Chicago suburbs, I noticed an influx of working-class Indian immigrants in the 1980s and 90s, but didn’t think much of it, until now. When I was in high school, I saw that many of the young immigrants in my school had a tenuous grasp of English—indeed, Gujarati was the main ESL demographic. The shock of moving to a new country, with almost no social safety net or support groups, makes this a group that’s at risk for tragic breakdowns.
Relevant: the fact that someone could burn a family alive over the question of caste, or for anything at all.
Not relevant: what specific castes they were, or which one claims to be “higher” than the other.
The reason is that attacking Chander’s position on the lines of “But he is uninformed! Clearly a Kshatriya is higher than a Jat!” trivializes his crime and is also an invite to debilitating flamewars. Not to mention being an untenable argument on the grounds of flinging the same mud: would Chander’s position be more tenable by that logic if his last name were something else?
Condekedar: thanks! Clears up a minor mystery.
This news is just awful, and clearly this guy is not mentally all there. Not only tragic for the family itself, but for all those families who have probably lost everything they had (photos, clothing, memories of home, shelter) because of his actions. Thanks for keeping us posted ANNA, and thanks for your thoughtful commentary Condekedar.
Some stories said Monika and Rajesh worked at McDonald’s, while another noted that when customers at a gas station he worked at realized that it was Rajesh who was murdered, they were in tears. Several stories said that his goal was to own a station of his own.
I was struck by that angle too, Condekedar.
This is really an extreme case, the guy is a phsycopath .
On a related note, has anyone else noticed the following: Among many large immigrant families , where one sibling/parent comes here, then helps the rest immigrate, often a lot of friction follows. These people would probablty never allow so much friction to surface in India. Does the financial freedom, independent lving allow people to do/say what they really feel, than “live and let live?” as one would do given the constraints in India?
Just wondering….
A line of poetry springs to mind:
“It just so happens I am sick of being a man.”
Can anyone in the Chicago-land area give some insight as to why there has been a sudden rash of these types of fire attacks? Is this sort of the like virus phenomenon or social epidemic as described in the tipping point?
I ask only because if the community reaction to past events hasn’t brought about scorn for these type of acts – it seems that it would be more likely to occur. How was the first attack viewed by the community? While there are caste-related offenses in India – I don’t hear of fires being set for this reason – just the typical, you’re no longer a child of mine if you marry that x,y,z. (which is horrible as well – but at least it’s not death) I am just trying to wrap my head around why someone would think this is acceptable and why others before him thought similarly?
There was a recent case in atlanta where one 50 something Indian guy hired two black guys to kill his black daughterinlaw because he disapproved of his son’s interracial marriage. The guy did this despite the fact that his son had a kid with her. The grandkid was unharmed and was being raised by the indian family until the cops figured out that the grandfather hired the hitman and it was no random burglary.
12 · Cliff said
Cliff, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
pardesi: thank you for the link– that’s the article I was thinking of…I’ve read so many, it’s a sad blur.
Camille: no need, but you’re welcome.
Jangli: I was wondering the same thing, but you phrased it much better than I could have. 🙁
Disgusting. I never thought these words would be coming out of this (left-wing lawyer) mouth, but I hope they lock him up and throw away the damn key. And that his attorney doesn’t raise some specious cultural argument.
For some reason, I see a high rate of ‘desi’ criminals in the U.S in the recent few months (maybe I’m just reading too much news), I hope we stay the model minority that we are and reduce these shocking incidents by reaching out in the community in every way we can…
To murder one’s own offspring surely deserves a Darwin Award.
I feel you, Sidhu. Why can’t these folks realize the implications of their actions – it’s more than your pride and your selfish, foolish fight. We are a part of a community greater than us and most of it, we’ll never even know. It’s the beauty of existence.
I wonder if this man believes in karma as much as he believes in caste…perhaps it’s an argument of convenience.
I hope this doesn’t come off patronizing, but I find it interesting that this is a unique “angle.” This is the kind of desi community I grew up with (although there were some yengineers and doctors, but they certainly lived in a separate neighborhood), and that was throughout the 80s/90s. I think this underscores a more common experience among immigrant communities, particularly working-class immigrant communities. Which is why I find this:
Unhelpful and inaccurate. As I love to say, the idea of the “model minority” is ahistoric and does not examine the full context of global processes (not to mention immigration laws) that have shaped the desi diaspora in the U.S. Additionally, you don’t know that this grandfather was not “high income” — people who fit the “model minority” stereotype are not exempt from committing crimes, both of the “blue” and “white” collar variety. This includes both folks who come from “model” backgrounds in the des and within the U.S. As curt or offensive as this may sound (and I understand that I’m not accounting for the very different mental health issues faced by low-income vs. high-income people), money cannot fix crazy.
Amen to that.
I am sad to say that I am embarrassed of being a Indian in Chicago these days. Cant I read the damn paper without these stories about Indians splashed all over the cover of newspapers?
I hate old Indian people with a passion! If your not my parents and your over 50 and Indian I most likely dont like you.
Maybe that was over the top, but how many old Indian people have you met and liked them? Very few in my experiences.
And to answer the fire in Chicago question, you have to understand that in the winter, fire is all Chicagoans think about because it is so damn cold. Right now as I am writing this I am thinking about setting my shoes on fire so that the ice on my feet will melt away.
22.
I didn’t know about this. Uberdesi covered it here.
Ten minutes of watching a Indian soap tv, would reveal the deviousness of parents scorned in marriage. But this is supposed to be TV, not real life.
Child? Now that’s a loaded statement.
And what kind of expert does one need to be in order to know that? Just curious.
Back to the case…the guy’s obviously insane, so a temporary insanity plea is almost guaranteed. He’ll walk in less than ten years.
But then, there’s Karma waiting for him.
M. Nam
Shallow – don’t be so shallow, man. I have an uncle at least fifty-five who sneaks me cigarettes, boozes with me, talks Proust and Macaulay into the wee hours (and weirdly, sometimes in the same sentence) and thinks – really thinks – women are superior to men. He’s admittedly exceptional, but I’ve found other Indian oldies to be cool once you get them to relax and open up.
For some reason, I see a high rate of ‘desi’ criminals in the U.S in the recent few months (maybe I’m just reading too much news), I hope we stay the model minority that we are and reduce these shocking incidents by reaching out in the community in every way we can…
It’s no good to strive to be a “model minority”…the word, as i know has been dissected by SM already, is inaccurate and compares ethnic groups and is inaccurate. If there is a problem in the desi community with crime, than I hope we can stop the trend, NOT b/c I won’t be looked at as a model minority, but b/c of course crime hurts everyone.
The guy is crazy and sounds like a sociopath – bastard.
Camille@28, I wasn’t quoting any crime report data or stats, I understand what you mean though, and I didn’t mean to imply that there can be no criminals within the U.S. desi diaspora, I was just reflecting on the recent news articles abt, the Long Island ‘slave’ couple case, the Georgia racial contract killing case, the forced abortion case,the case this post is about – each worser than the other. But I really do get the meaning of your comment, I didn’t mean to force people into thinking we are all untouched by crime because we are a ‘model minority’
Ps@34: I didn’t know ‘model minorty’ has been dissected, haven’t been reading all the posts in recent times
15 · pingpong said
Exactly.
Hey!! Who’re you calling a minority?!!
M. Nam
I knew bits of this story but not all the gory details. Thanks for posting.
I’m not very attached to the Desi community here in Chicago, but the class angle makes things interesting. Not to start a class war/riot or anything, but this reminds me of the increase in domestic violence in Punjabi households in the Vancouver area. From what I understand (and I know VERY little, so please enlighten me) said violence is more prevalent in working class/less educated immigrant families. Is there a conclusion to be drawn? Should more upwardly mobile immigrants be doing more to educate new immigrants of local customs (not that setting your family on fire is appropriate local custom in the homeland, but you understand what I’m getting at)? Not assimilation, but acculturation?
In any case. Chee.
Thanks Anna. When I hear that this may not be isolated to Chicago but is also prevalent elsewhere, I wonder if some of these things that are happening are a case of where people are so desperate to hold onto their notion of desi values (I said their notion, not actual desi values) that they go overboard on preserving their view of things? As Dave Chappelle would say, “When keeping it real goes wrong”.
I’m not suggesting a cultural angle to a defense but simply wondering whether certain people hold onto their view of what’s right or wrong (and act on them) when they are not exposed to moderating influences. I wonder if this guy had anyone in his hood or in his family, telling him to cool his irrational actions. Or whether he simply felt that he wouldn’t speak with anyone about his family issues, because he was either ashamed, upset or whatever he felt thus leading to this conclusion or whether, no one wanted to temper his feelings. Like I said before, I can’t understand why someone would do this. Killing to protect your family from physical harm is one thing but killing your family to protect your family name makes no sense at all.
Wow. Absolutely disgusting. Whether he was working class or white or black or purple doesn’t matter, he should go to prison for a very, very long time.
Forgot to add in the post that from what I recall, his daughter lived just a few doors down from him, in the same apartment building until recently. I think when their relationship worsened, the young couple moved across the street, to Le Claire Station.
The suspect (I updated the post with his picture) was unemployed and had “liver problems”. I wonder if he had other problems, ones that could not be helped with a private chat. We need to do away with all the stigmas and issues regarding mental health. Everyone of these people (in the four Illinois cases) sounds like they were depressed or suffering. If your mind ain’t right, setting people on fire, harming your children and irresponsibly worrying your family by disappearing might seem like rational actions.
40 · Radhika said
Yes. The prosecutors will make sure he stays there for the rest of his remaining life.
How come this stuff always comes back to Punjabi’s?
The last couple of times this happened here in Chicago it was never a Punjabi. I never thought it would annoy me because I am more American then I ever will be Punjabi, but it is kind of getting on my nerves.
so chander has acknowledged lighting the fire but that caste rhetoric seems to be an afterthought. i’d wait on a psychiatric evaluation on this guy and the coroner’s report before firming hyptheses.
on a lighter note
oh! uncle is exceptional all right. exceptionally shady.
38 · chicagodesidiva said
Also not to imply this behavior doesn’t happen in “more upwardly mobile” homes. That is all.
On a slightly lighter note (because I need it), I think the gas station attendant is also at fault(especially if he’s also desi):
He should have called the cops immediately. The gas station attendant should have known no desi in his right mind would leave $1.76 behind.
There’s also the chance that he thought that others in the community would share his opinion, that what his daughter did was wrong, and somehow ostracize him and his other family members for that. In my experience, the conservative types, at least when it comes to older Indians (both male and female), assume that the rest of the community thinks the way they do, or at least, the rest of the “acceptable” members of the community. Part of the reason you don’t stray from established norms or traditions is that you and your family will be ostracized from the community and have your reputations damaged.
Disliking your son-in-law is one thing, but deliberately setting a fire so that he, your daughter, and your grandson would be killed goes beyond cantankerous foolishness into the realm of sheer insanity.
If the Kauravas couldn’t get away with it, how could he possibly think he could?
This so called father/killer was (and still) in serious need of mental health services.
An awful tragedy that has ruined many innocent lives.
Because this fam was supposedly from Chandigarh. I suggest that as a PR strategy, we remind everyone that the other three criminal cases from Chicago involved Gujus. It’ll be just like WWII! Or those “Don’t blame me, I voted for ____” stickers.
/attempt at tongue-in-cheek wackness
41 · A N N A said
Word. I’m a mental health counseling intern, and the amount of denial people put themselves through to avoid acknowledging any hint of mental imbalance is staggering. Worse, it wreaks havoc on their friends and family…as witnessed here.
Unfortunately, given that our culture is one where sharing such personal details with others is taboo, I don’t expect to get many first-gen folks as clients. Second and so on, definitely. But not, say, my parents.