Press Trust of India
Los Angeles, June 4: Mainak Sarkar, the Indian-American techie behind the UCLA murder-suicide, seems to have forced his entry into his estranged wife’s home before shooting her dead and boarded a bus to the varsity to kill his former college professor, authorities said Saturday. The 38-year-old IIT-Kharagpur alumni is believed to have intruded into the Brooklyn Park residence in the nearby town where Ashley Hasti, who he married in 2011, lived. Officers also found Sarkar’s car, a grey 2003 Nissan Sentra with Minnesota license plate 720KTW, parked in his old neighbourhood. They also found a broken window they believe he used to enter Hasti’s home.
Police had asked for public help to find the car and was spotted by a bicyclist parked on a residential street on the city’s west side. A bomb squad that inspected the vehicle found no explosives but police say a handgun and cans of gasoline were in the trunk. Authorities said the fuel was apparently there so Sarkar did not have to stop on his trip from Minnesota, where he killed 31-year-old Hasti a few days ago. Initially, there were conflicting reports about the status of their marriage but police Saturday confirmed Hasti was still legally Sarkar’s wife when she died of multiple gunshot wounds. Hasti had been separated for some time and lived elsewhere, they said.
