Tamil origin family found dead in London, murder-suicide suspected

The Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation after three members of a Tamil-origin family were found dead in their flat in west London.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police forced entry into a block of flats in Brentford on Tuesday after concerns were raised for the well-being of Poorna Kaameshwari Sivaraj. They found the body of the 36-year-old woman and her three-year-old son, Kailash Kuha Raj. Her husband, Kuha Raj Sithamparanathan, was found with severe stab injuries and died at the scene soon after.

The police believe the 42-year-old injured himself when officials entered the property. While the police are yet to confirm their line of inquiry and a post-mortem on the bodies is scheduled for Thursday, it is suspected to be a case of murder-suicide.

“Although we are in the infancy of this investigation, it appears that Poorna and Kailash had been dead for some time. This is a murder investigation and my team will work diligently to establish the sequence of events that led to their murders and the death of Kuha Raj Sithamparanathan,” said Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, who is leading the investigation.

He said that their initial inquiries had established that Poorna Sivaraj and her son had not been seen or heard from for some days, perhaps since September 21.

“We know the family often walked their dog, a poodle cross breed, in and around the local area and I would ask anyone who saw them at any time in the last month to contact police so we can begin to build a full picture of their lives,” said Harding.