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Indian faces additional murder charge

New York: U.S. prosecutors will slap an additional murder charge on an Indian accused of setting afire his two sons as the elder second boy also succumbed to his injuries.

Kaushik Patel, 34, was earlier ordered and held on a $10-million bail by an Illinois judge after he was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated arson and attempted first-degree murder.

Vishv Patel, 7, who had been hospitalised in the burns unit of the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood since November 18, 2007, was pronounced dead on Tuesday. His brother, Om Patel, 4, died in the hospital on January 17.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett said that in the next few weeks, he would ask a grand jury for an additional count of first-degree murder against Kaushik, Chicago Tribune reported.

Kaushik is accused of dousing the boys with gasoline in the shower of the family’s home and then setting them on fire while his wife was away.

Mr. Birkett said it was too soon to decide whether the prosecutors would seek the death penalty, adding his office had 120 days after an indictment by the grand jury to make that decision.

But “on its face, he would be eligible for capital punishment. We’ve known since day one that we might go down that road.” Kaushik, who had also suffered burns, was taken into custody last Friday after he was discharged from hospital. — PTI

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