A combination of massive debt, the threat of eviction and a last-minute change to a $1 million life insurance policy reportedly led a Massachusetts father to kill his wife and daughter before committing suicide inside his $5 million home.
Authorities said Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter Ariana were found dead in their Dover mansion after a murder-suicide.
Four days before the tragedy, a fax signed by Teena Kamal was sent to Genworth, a Virginia life insurance company, requesting modifications to a $1.25 million life insurance policy. According to the Boston Globe.
The document sought to name Teena Kamal’s husband and daughter as the primary beneficiaries and add Rakesh’s brother, Manoj Kamal, as a secondary beneficiary.
Teena’s (54) original insurance policy listed Rakesh (57), who went by Rick, as the sole primary beneficiary, and Arianna as a secondary beneficiary in the event of her father’s death.
Since January, Rakesh’s brother Manoj and Teena’s brother Sandeep Bedi have been embroiled in a legal battle, exposing the siblings’ murky financial past.
After the three were killed, Manoj, who discovered the bodies in the house, filed a claim with the life insurance company to collect the insurance money.
The media outlet said Bedi, who manages his sister’s estate, had “expressed concerns” to the firm about the circumstances of the death and the change in beneficiary.
The life insurance company, struggling to decide who should be the beneficiary of the policies, asked a federal court in Boston in April to determine the final beneficiary of the policies.
Manoj and Bedi have until August 2 to respond to the allegations.
The couple will now have the choice to either settle or go ahead with a potentially lengthy civil trial that could shed light on the motive for the murder-suicide by a supposedly doting father.
Rakesh Kamal was heavily in debt, thanks to a $3.8 million mortgage on a $4 million property he bought with his wife on Valentine’s Day in 2019, six-figure loans from family members and a series of failed business deals in and around the Boston area.
According to two affidavits reviewed by The Boston Globe, the software developer and entrepreneur borrowed $500,000 from Bedi and also “substantial amounts” from his brother Manoj.
Rakesh had requested his brother-in-law not to tell Teena about the loan.
“I never dreamed what Rick was doing,” Bedi told the paper in January.
“We worshipped him to a degree we could never have imagined,” he added. “And now to have to come to terms with the fact that not only did he murder my sister and my niece, but he lied to us for years, it just doesn’t feel real.”
In addition to the massive debt, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition was filed in Teena’s name in September 2022 listing debts between $1 million and $10 million. Boston 25 News The report cited federal bankruptcy filings.
The case was dismissed a month later because the necessary documents were not filed.
According to the Boston Globe, the Kamals will be ordered to vacate their 21-room Dover mansion in December 2022, with eviction proceedings set to begin in May 2023.
Rakesh also owed the Maryland-based company nTech Connect $760,000 after the company loaned $550,000 to Cambetas, a company controlled by Rakesh, in December 2022.
Rakesh Kamal claimed he would personally repay the business loan within four months as he was waiting for an “international wire transfer” for the loan.
He guaranteed the loan himself, using his widowed mother’s house in Woburn as collateral because their home in Dover was in the process of being foreclosed.
Bedi and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office believe Teena died without knowing about her husband’s huge debts.
“Tina had no idea she had financial problems,” Bedi told The Boston Globe. “She thought she had plenty of money.”
If the case goes to court, Manoj will likely argue to the insurance company that, in accordance with the latest revision of Teena’s policy, the benefits should be paid to him, as the interim beneficiary.
Bedi’s arguments revolve around the validity of the policy change request letter and “calls into question its relevance to the murder and whether the signature was indeed that of Teena Kamal.”
Teena’s signature was witnessed, but it was not revealed who they were.
Genworth Policy A witness cannot also be a beneficiary.
If the judge or jury finds in Bedi’s favor, the life insurance will be awarded based on the original policy, but since the original beneficiaries, Rakesh and Ariana, are deceased, the proceeds will go to Teena’s estate.
The money will first be used to pay legal fees, funeral expenses and unpaid taxes, then go to creditors and next of kin.
Teena Kamal died without leaving a will, so her remaining assets will go to her parents in India.
