Tej Pratap Singh tech executive kills wife, kids in Plainsboro, N.J murder suicide as deaths follow other highly educated Indians demise.
Is the American Dream still working for immigrant families? Authorities have identified a family of four, of Indian origin who were found deceased at a Plainsboro, New Jersey home, Wednesday afternoon.
The bodies of Tej Pratap Singh, 43, and his wife, Sonal Parihar, 42, were found alongside their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter after the youngest child failed to show up for the school bus earlier that morning.
Prosecutors announced on Thursday announced the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide. Tej apparently shot his wife and children and then himself according to News 12 New Jersey.
‘They were such a sweet family,’
News of the family’ demise shocked neighbors along with their family back in India, with the family often seen peacefully walking about the neigbhorhood and held in high regard.
About 18 months before their deaths, Singh shared a Facebook photo of the family grinning and covered in bright colors in celebration of the Hindu festival of Holi.
A few months later, the father of two was pictured alongside other Plainsboro parents at a PTA meeting for one of his children’s elementary schools.
A neighbor who asked not to be named said she had been friendly with the family for more than a decade.
‘They were such a sweet family,’ the neighbor told NJ.com.
The neighbor’s daughter met Singh and Parihar’s daughter at the school bus stop every morning until Wednesday, when the child failed to appear.
‘It was weird for me to not see her in the morning,’ the neighbor told NJ.com.
The family’s bodies were found just a few hours later, shortly after a relative called for a welfare check around 4:40 p.m., the Plainsboro Police Department said.
Highly educated Indian families pressure to portray success
Relatives said that both Singh and Parihar had careers in the IT field.
Pratap Singh was a technology executive with a New York-based company, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also served as treasurer of the local elementary school’s PTA.
Read the father’s About bio: ‘A passionate, hands-on, senior technology executive with 16+ years of diverse technical and business experience, with emphasis on the design, configuration, management, and business continuity of large, distributed enterprise systems. Extensive experience in establishing the strategic value of Technology and working hand-in-hand with other Senior Business Executives.’
The page also described Singh having graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, in Kanpur before immigrating to the United States. The family originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh, India prior to migrating the Times of India reported.
The purported murder suicide follows that of another Indian family’s murder suicide involving a Baltimore tech worker who alleged killed his wife, their 6 year old son and self at their family home in August.
Authorities have yet to say what may have led to the alleged Plainsboro murder suicide, while previous comments in prior tragedies alluding to family pride, honor, prestige and reputation, failure and shame being catalysts in possible demise.
