Rajesh was with his family at his apartment at Oak Forest, Chicago, Illinois, when his father-in-law set it on fire.

The tragedy has shaken the Ambala-based Jhamb family. Their grandson, Vansh, had stayed with them for nearly two years since his mother Monika left him with them when he was just seven months old. He went to the US last July.

“On Monday evening we came to know that our son had met with an accident and sustained burns. We thought he might have got injured in a fire, perhaps at his workplace. But after some enquiries in the US, we got to know that he was no more and that our daughter-in-law and grandson had also met with a tragic end,” an inconsolable Sudesh Rani, Rajesh’s mother, told Newsline.

They are more pained to know that the perpetrator of the crime is none other than Monika’s father.

In his statement to the police, Chander has said that he was upset over his daughter marrying someone from a “lower caste”.

In Ambala’s New Mandi Complex, Rajesh’s family is busy collecting pictures of their son, grandson and daughter-in-law. “We received a message from my niece, Sunita Rani, that the Oak Forest Police Department requires some identification proof before they hand over the bodies,” said Rajesh’s father, who added that he will get the pictures scanned and mailed to his relatives in the US.

“Rajesh never returned from the US because of problems with his visa. However, his mother-in-law, Prem Devi, and wife Monika visited India twice. They were all very happy with the marriage. Nobody, not even Subhash Chander, ever expressed any resentment,” said sister Anshu Bala. “In fact, last August, his in-laws had attended Vansh’s birthday party. Rajesh had sent us the pictures.”

“Prem Devi used to call us often, but Subhash Chander was greedy and used to extort money from my brother. He was a drunkard and used to abuse anyone who disagreed with him,” alleged Seema, Rajesh’s younger sister.

Talking to Newsline over the phone from the US, Prem Devi said: “I don’t know what led my husband to commit such an act. He was never like this. He used to work at a grocery store and had good relations with Monika and Rajesh.”

Subhash Chander and his family had migrated to the US from Bathinda five years ago.

The 57-year-old has been arrested without bail and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and intentional homicide of an unborn child. The fire consumed an apartment complex, home to more than 70 persons. Remarkably, the authorities said, all except Rajesh’s family escaped without serious injuries.

A witness told the police that just after the fire started he saw a man matching Subhash Chander’s description in the hallway smelling of gasoline and carrying a plastic container. An attendant at a filling station told the police that Subhash Chander had bought a plastic container of gasoline two hours before the fire. Not long after the fire, the police found the container in a garbage bin outside his apartment building, just across the street from his daughter’s building.