Financier kills his family after losing fortune

A businessman gunned down five members of his family then shot himself after seeing his family's fortune wiped out by the stock market collapse.

Karthik Rajaram, 45, who had made almost £900,000 on the London stock market, shot his wife, three children and mother-in-law in the head before turning the gun on himself at the family home near Los Angeles.

In a suicide note to police, he blamed the killings on financial hardship brought on by a collapse in shares.

Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Michael Moore said: "The source of it appears to be a financial state, a crisis that this man became embroiled in that has unfolded over the past weeks. We believe he has become despondent recently over financial dealings and the financial situation of his household and that this is a direct result of that."

Using a handgun bought on 16 September, Rajaram went from room to room, picking off the family one-by-one. Police found his motherinlaw, Indra Ramasesham 69, dead in bed on the first floor. Upstairs, they found his 19-year-old son, Krishna, who was studying business economics, murdered in his bed.

Rajaram's wife Subasri, was found in another room, also apparently shot while sleeping. In an adjoining room, his 12-year-old son, Ganesha, was dead on the f loor, and his brother, Arjuna, seven, was killed in bed. Their father's body was in the room with the gun in his hand. All had been shot in the head. They were murdered some time between Saturday night and yesterday morning. The alarm was raised when Mrs Rajaram failed to turn up for work at a local chemist.

Mr Rajaram, originally from India, left two suicide notes as well as a will at the home in Sorrento Pointe, a gated community in the Santa Susana Mountains.

Rajaram wrote of two options: committing suicide or killing himself and his entire family. "He talked himself into the second strategy," said Mr Moore, "That would be the honourable thing to do."

A source said Rajaram had acted after seeing "his finances wiped out by the stock market collapse".

In 2001, Rajaram had received £875,000 for an initial £12,500 stake in an internet company he cofounded and subsequently floated on the London stock market. He had previously worked in LA for Londonbased PricewaterhouseCoopers and spent five years at Sony Pictures.