Victims included three Indian Americans and one Indian national, visiting from India.
The quadruple murder case in Cincinnati, Ohio, which left four members of a family dead, does not appear to be a hate crime. Even though, the case is under investigation and the hunt for the killer is on, the India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter: “The matter is under investigation by the Police but it is not a hate crime. Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this.”
Out of the four persons killed, three were Indian Americans, and one was an Indian visiting the United States.
The victims have been identified as Hakikat Panag (59), Paramjit Kaur (62), Amarjit Kaur (58) and Shalinder Kaur (39), the Cincinnati Inquirer reported.
Three women and a man were found lying in a pool of blood at an apartment with several gunshots in Ohio’s, Cincinnati city. Another person from the family called the 911, after he arrived at the crime scene. So far, no arrests have been made in the case.
The office of the Consulate General of India in New York is closely monitoring the case and is in touch with the family and police investigating the case. The Twitter handle of consulate tweeted: “We have just had a conference call with West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog and other detectives on the case. We are working closely with the Police and Family.”
The deceased family was well known and respected among the Sikh community circles in the city. They were active members of the local Gurudwara and none of the dead showed any indications of strife just before the gruesome murder took place.