Blue State Murderer - IL Man Accused of Setting Apartment Fire That Killed Pregnant Daughter, Her Fa

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319409,00.html

Illinois Man Accused of Setting Apartment Fire That Killed Pregnant

Daughter, Her Family

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

MARKHAM, Ill. - A suburban Chicago man is accused of setting an apartment

fire - killing his pregnant daughter, her husband and their young child -

because the son-in-law didn't ask permission for the marriage, prosecutors

said.

Subhash Chander, 57, of Oak Forest was ordered held without bond Tuesday on

three counts of first-degree murder, one count of intentional homicide of an

unborn child and one count of aggravated arson.

Prosecutors allege Chander used gasoline to start the fire late Saturday.

The India native told police he disliked his son-in-law because he belonged

to a lower caste and had married his daughter without his consent, said Cook

County First Assistant State's Attorney Robert Milan.

"His son-in-law was beneath him in his opinion," Milan said.

But Chander's sister, Kamla Devi, told WBBM-AM that her brother is innocent.

She said that relatives approved of the marriage and that the caste system

was not a consideration for her family in India, nor is it a consideration

now in the United States.

"There was no family problem. There was nothing going on. Absolutely

nothing," Devi said.

Devi told the radio station that the family is from Chandigarh in northern

India.

The Cook County medical examiner's office said the victims died of

carbon-monoxide poisoning and smoke and soot inhalation.

Milan identified the victims as 22-year-old Monika Rani, her 36-year-old

husband, Rajesh Kumar, and their 3-year-old son, Vansh. Rani was five months

pregnant, Milan said.

Chander had a public defender in bond court Tuesday, Milan said, but The

Associated Press was unable to determine who it was. A call to a listing for

Chander reached a man who said it was a wrong number.

Chander told police the gasoline spilled during "a pushing match" with his

son-in-law, Milan said. Chander also told police that he ignited the gas

with a lighter because he was angry, Milan said.

But prosecutors said the victims may have been asleep. All other residents

of the apartment building were able to escape, Milan said.

It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze, which gutted the

36-unit Le Claire Station Apartments.