A financially rich Indian-origin couple living with their teen daughter were found dead in the Massachusetts US. Norfolk District Attorney (DA) Michael Morrissey stated that Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter Ariana were found dead on Thursday. The police officials informed that the preliminary investigation hits towards a case of domestic violence with no outside involvement.
The Indian family was settled in the United States and were established in the tech industry. They used to run an education system company named EduNova. The company is no longer functioning.
According to the biography on EduNova, Mr. Kamal was an alumnus of Boston University, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Stanford University. With a solid career in consulting, he had a good reputation in the education business. He started the company ‘EduNova’ with his wife in 2016.
Teena, his wife was an alumnus of Harvard University as well as Delhi University who was listed as one of the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. Her online bio suggests three decades of working experience of education and technology industry.
“EduNova promised a ‘student success system’ and aimed towards improving the grades of students in middle school, high school, and college,” The Boston Globe newspaper reported.
The rise and fall of company
Initially thriving, the company led the Kamal couple to acquire a 19,000-square-foot estate with 11 bedrooms for $4 million in 2019, as indicated by state records. However, a financial downturn began when the company was dissolved in December 2021.
The family’s former mansion, valued at approximately $5.45 million, faced foreclosure a year ago. Recently, it was purchased by Wilsondale Associates LLC, a Massachusetts-based company, for $3 million, as reported by The Post.
The couple, formerly known as Rick and Teena, faced economic challenges, culminating in the foreclosure and subsequent sale of their expansive mansion to Massachusetts-based Wilsondale Associates LLC for $3 million a year ago.
Despite the estate’s estimated value of $5.45 million at the time of sale, the financial strain persisted, prompting Teena Kamal, a Harvard University and Delhi University alumna, to file for bankruptcy in September 2022.
The Terrible Tragedy
At 7:24 pm on Thursday, authorities received a call from a relative of the Kamal family who, concerned about not hearing from them for days, had come to check on them.
According to the District Attorney, the family members-Rakesh, Teena and their 18-year-old daughter Ariana were the only ones residing at mansion at that time. The DA also mentioned that the neighborhood, situated in one of the wealthiest areas in the state, was described as a “pleasant community” with a high level of safety.
The Norfolk District Attorney emphasized that a conclusive motive for this “terrible tragedy” is yet to be determined, and investigations are ongoing. The authorities are awaiting the medical examiner’s ruling to categorize the incident as either suicide or murder, although a gun was discovered near Rakesh Kamal’s body.
“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,” stated Mr. Morrissey.
About Ariana
Ariana, aged 18, attended Middlebury College, a private liberal arts school in Vermont with an annual cost of $64,800, where she pursued a degree in neuroscience, as mentioned on her LinkedIn profile.
In response to the tragic event, Milton Academy, her former school, described Ariana as a young woman who was sweet, intelligent, and kind. They noted that she was “just beginning to realize her full potential.”