US authorities investigating tragic death of Indian couple in New Jersey

New York, April 9

Authorities in the US are investigating the tragic death of an Indian couple, who was found dead in their New Jersey home due to an apparent stabbing.

Balaji Bharat Rudrawar, a 32-year-old IT professional and his wife Arati Balaji Rudrawar (30) were found dead at their apartment in the Riverview Gardens complex of North Arlington borough in New Jersey.

Officials in the Indian Consulate in New York termed the incident as very tragic and said they were in touch with the family of the deceased.

Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a statement that the North Arlington Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit were investigating the deaths of the two individuals found inside an apartment located at 21 Garden Terrace, North Arlington.

Musella said that on April 7, North Arlington Police responded to the apartment at 5:40 p.m. after receiving a 9-1-1 call from a concerned neighbour asking for a welfare check on the residents.

“Officers forced entry into the apartment and found a deceased male and female,” the statement said.

An investigation is being conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit under the direction of Chief Robert Anzilotti and the North Arlington Police Department under the direction of Chief Scott Hedenberg.

Family sources said in India that neighbours saw the couple's four-year-old daughter crying alone in the balcony of their house after which they informed the police.

US media outlets said the couple died of an apparent stabbing in their North Arlington apartment. The husband apparently stabbed and sliced his wife in the abdomen as she unsuccessfully tried to fight him off in their living room, a US media report said.

“The bodies were found on Wednesday after neighbours saw my granddaughter crying in the balcony and informed the local police who then entered the house," Balaji's father Bharat Rudrawar told PTI in Mumbai.

"The local police there informed me of the tragedy on Thursday. There is no clarity yet on the cause of the death. The US police said they will share findings of the autopsy report," Rudrawar said.

He added that his daughter-in-law was seven months pregnant.

“We had been to their house and were planning another trip to the US to be with them again," he said.

"I am not aware of any possible motive. They were a happy family and had lovely neighbours," he said when asked if he suspected foul play.

Rudrawar said his granddaughter is now with a friend of his son, who had several friends in the local Indian community.

Balaji Rudrawar, an IT professional from Ambajogai in Maharashtra's Beed district had moved with his wife to the US in August 2015 after they got married in December 2014, said his father, a businessman from the temple town, around 500 km from Mumbai.

While Balaji was working there for a prominent Indian infotech company, his wife was a homemaker, Rudrawar said. — PTI 

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