4 Relatives Found Dead in Arson

The bodies of four family members were found in a Hollywood Hills home damaged by a fire that authorities said Sunday was intentionally set.

It was not known whether the four people--a 43-year-old woman, her 16-year-old daughter, 18-year-old son and her mother-in-law--died in the fire or were previously killed, said Los Angeles Police Robbery-Homicide Capt. Jim Tatreau.

“We don’t have any suspects,” Tatreau said Sunday evening. “No one has been eliminated at this point.”

Harish “Harry” Kumar, the woman’s husband, reported the blaze to the Los Angeles Fire Department at 11:16 p.m. Saturday and was being interviewed by authorities at the Hollywood police station most of Sunday.

Kumar, 47, who owns three motels in the Los Angeles area, was standing on his front lawn screaming for help, saying his family was inside, when firefighters arrived three minutes later.

“The fire has been listed as incendiary, which means it was intentionally set,” said Jim Wells, Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman. Investigators found more than one point of origin for the blaze, which took 30 minutes to put out, officials said.

Arson investigators, county coroner’s investigators and robbery-homicide detectives spent Sunday sifting the debris for evidence, even retaining samples of the water used to quash the fire at the one-story, three-bedroom home in the 2900 block of Lakeridge Drive. A dog trained to smell fire accelerants was brought to the scene. Investigators also hauled away Kumar’s silver minivan on a flatbed truck.

Friends and relatives identified the dead as Gita Kumar, 43, Tulsi Kumar, 16, Paras Kumar, 18, and Sitaben Patel, 63.

“To lose everybody like that,” said Govind Patel, Gita Kumar’s brother. “That’s really something. If only his son or daughter had survived, to help him get through this. But there’s nobody.”

Patel said the coroner’s office told him the bodies were so badly burned that official identification will require dental records.

Harish Kumar had been out Saturday night with friends, according to relatives. They said he was eager to get home because his son Paras had come home from UC San Diego to spend the weekend with his family, as he had every weekend since starting college last fall.

Chantu Patel, another relative, said he and three other men had driven with Harish Kumar on Saturday to a volleyball tournament in Bakersfield. He said Kumar dropped him off at Universal City Inn, a motel the family owned, about 10:30 p.m. and then dropped off one other man nearby before heading home.

“It was a matter of minutes before the fire was reported,” Chantu Patel said. Detectives on Sunday questioned the man Kumar dropped off last, Patel said.

Friends and relatives said the family was close and enjoyed spending time together. They accumulated considerable wealth and had just remodeled their Hollywood Hills home.

“They were as good as gold,” Chantu Patel said. “They had no problems.”

Govind Patel said the family moved to the United States from India about 23 years ago. Harish and Gita Kumar started out with jobs in a hotel in Texas.

They saved money, moved to California in 1990 and bought the first of three motels, Universal City Inn in Studio City. They later opened the Royal Inn Motel in Los Angeles and the Hollywood Stars Inn on Sunset Boulevard.

Hotel employees described the couple as hard-working and friendly. They were dedicated to their business, even living at the Universal City Inn for several years. It allowed them to stay on top of business and save money for the home they always wanted.

They bought that house two years ago for $475,000, in an exclusive hillside neighborhood with million-dollar homes. Hotel employees said the Kumars were excited about their first home in America, coming more than 15 years after they were sworn in as U.S. citizens.

Govind Patel described his sister as a dedicated mother and a sharp businesswoman. Gita often brought her children to the motels, sometimes allowing them to do odd jobs, he said.

“She wanted them to know how to operate the business someday,” Patel said.

People also knew Gita for her cooking skills, especially her talent for spicy curry chicken, Patel said.

She had gone home to India recently to visit family, but returned on Friday and went to the Universal motel to show off building expansion plans to employees.

He said he spoke to his sister Saturday and she seemed in high spirits. “She was just so good-hearted,” Patel said.

Relatives said Paras Kumar was a college freshman studying business and doing well at it. His sister, Tulsi Kumar, attended Reseda High School.

Isaac Akironde, 16, a classmate, came by the Kumar home on Sunday with another friend, Jimmy Castillejo, who sobbed as he sat nearby on a curb.

They recalled a girl who put others before herself at every opportunity. “She’d always be there [for you],” Akironde said.