A store surveillance picture of murderer-suicide Pawan Kumar, from June 16 or 17, 2012
By Nicholas Stix
I don’t know what the Hindi word for chutzpah is, but whatever it is, the family of murderer-suicide Pawan Kumar sure has got it in spades!
Kumar, 26, also identified as Pawan Kumar Anjaiah, was an H-1B computer engineer indentured servant for apparently one year for the tech sweatshop Cognizant. He was due to return to India on or about July 1.
At some point perhaps one week earlier, Kumar had met Danielle Mehlman, 26, of Pennsylvania, via an Internet “dating” site. Such sites are almost always procurers that bring together prostitutes and customers.
Mehlman had previously worked as a teacher in Philadelphia, and was reportedly popular with her students, but had not taught during the previous year. She had worked part-time as a stripper (“exotic dancer”) at a club during the past year.
Little has been revealed so far about the killer and his victim’s initial acquaintance, or the time they spent together prior to the night of June 17-18, when Kumar murdered Mehlman, by repeatedly stabbing her in the upper torso in their motel room.
Reports suggested that the killer and his victim had known each other anywhere from one to two weeks.
All of the reports I have thus far seen begin on the fatal last night, when Kumar and Mehlman were in the small resort town of Dewey, DE. They were having drinks with another couple they had just met, and Mehlman showed off jewelry Kumar had bought her, and told the other woman that he was going to buy her and expensive handbag the next day. When the other woman referred to Kumar as Mehlman’s “boyfriend,” Mehlman insisted, in front of Kumar, that she was not sexually involved with him, that she had a boyfriend, and that she was hearing from another man on her cellphone, with whom she was also interested in being involved with.
At 10:30 p.m. that night, Kumar was reportedly thrown out of a fundraising benefit at a club, when he got into an argument with another man. A witness said that Mehlman had been on the floor texting, with Kumar standing nearby, and that she had looked as if she did not want to be with him.
At dawn the next morning, after a sleepless night of murder, cleaning up, and packing, Kumar carried to big plastic bags with his clothes four miles down the road to a bait-and-tackle shop. He and Mehlman had arrived in her car, and he did not want to raise alarms by having people see him get into a taxi and leaving by himself.
At the bait-and-tackle shop, Kumar bought a fishing hat and some other gear, apparently in the hopeless project of looking as though he’d been going fishing. He called for a taxi, to go to Wilmington, but when the owner of the stand asked for his name, he said, “You’ve got my number.”
The owner took the call himself. When the driver arrived, he asked to see proof that the fare had the requisite $344. Kumar flashed what looked like about $800 in cash.
Kumar sought to impress the owner-driver with a cover story he’d fashioned, whereby his parents owned two businesses in Wilmington, and his sister was studying law at Philadelphia’s Widener University. In fact, he was all alone here.
When the driver noted that he had seen Kumar get thrown out of a club the previous night, the latter stopped talking. The driver said that Kumar spoke with such a heavy accent, that it was difficult to understand hum, to begin with.
Somehow, Kumar got from Wilmington to Belleville, NJ, where he rented a motel room, where he was found dead of an overdose of pills on the morning of June 19.
So far, no reports I have seen have explained how he got from Wilmington to Belleville.
One reader who identified herself as Mehlman’s sister, argued in a comment at my blog that I needed to take greater heed of the family’s sensitivities. I responded that I could not follow her demands and continue writing on crime.
Some presumably American drive-by commenters who clearly did not know Mehlman, posted abuse, which I either refused to post, or deleted.
Numerous Indian readers also commented, some of them abusively, directed either at me or the victim. I posted some of their comments, while sending others to spam. One reader, who claimed to be the victim’s mother, posted an angry comment directed at some of the Indian commenters.
Daniele Mehlman was last living in Bensalem, PA. She leaves behind a four-year-old son, Tyler, who had been living with his father in Voorhees, NJ.
Needless to say, the killer’s family has not apologized to the family of their son’s victim.
The Indian media have sought to “disappear” Danielle Mehlman from their coverage of the case, focusing instead on her killer, his family, and Cognizant.
Pawan’s family sets terms to receive body
Deccan Herald
Bangalore, June 30, 2012, DHNS:
The family of Pawan Kumar who was found dead in Belleville, New Jersey on June 19, has set conditions for the repatriation of the techie’s body to India. They have also refused to receive the body unless all charges against the deceased are cleared.
“We do not want to bury Pawan with a blot on his character as a murder suspect,” said H P Gopal Krishna, Pawan Kumar’s uncle, during an interview with Deccan Herald.
All legal hurdles have been cleared to bring home the body, but the family is not ready to sign authorisation papers as it would leave them alone to fight a bitter legal battle, Krishna added. Pawan Kumar is the prime suspect in the murder of a 26-year old teacher at Dewey Beach, Delaware.
He also revealed that, on the advice of their lawyer, the family wished to receive a copy of the death note allegedly left by Pawan, copies of all the FIRs [?], the autopsy report and all other documents related to the case.
“Only after all these documents are received will the family be ready to accept the body,” he said, and added that the family would sit in protest in front of the office of Cognizant Technologies, if they brought the body to India against the family’s wishes.
A spokesperson of Cognizant confirmed to Deccan Herald that the family had visited the company Friday evening, and had presented with a long list of demands, including the US autopsy and inquest reports, details of Pawan Kumar’s outstanding personal loans, and bank balance details. The company told them that the demands were out of their purview as it was related to a criminal investigation in another country.
Pawan’s uncle is adamant that the family at least be provided a copy of the death note. “We will accept anything in the letter, even if he has written that he is guilty of the crime. But before that we are not ready to take the body. It is tainted. It is an insult to our family and nation,” he said.
Sources said the family is also demanding an insurance settlement and a compensatory job for Pawan Kumar’s sister Gunasheela, as a pre-condition. However, the family has denied this vehemently.
Cognizant said it is ready to bear all costs associated with returning the body to India.
Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs said once the family duly signs the papers, it will be a matter of 48 hours before the body arrives in the City.
But MEA officials also expressed shock at the family’s list of demands. “We had assumed that the most important thing that the family wanted was the return of Pawan Kumar’s body,” officials said.
[Previously, on this case, at WEJB/NSU:
“Yet Another Collision of a Suicidally ‘Liberated,’ White Female with the Third World? H1-B Visa Holder Pawan Kumar Murders School Teacher/Stripper Danielle Mehlman at Delaware Beach Resort Town, Then Commits Suicide”;
“Family of Murder Victim Danielle Mehlman: She Met Her Killer, Pawan Kumar, Through an Online Dating Service”;
“Indian H-1B Killer of Danielle Mehlman, Pawan Kumar Anjaiah, was an Indentured Servant for Cognizant; Killer’s Family is in Denial, Claims Firm Has Sought to Hide Its Connection to Killer”;
“Danielle Mehlman’s H-1B Killer, Indian Pawan Kumar Anjaiah, Left Suicide Note; Times of India ‘Disappears’ Victim”;
“Family of Indian H1-B Killer-Suicide Pawan Kumar, Who Murdered Damielle Mehlman: ‘He wuz Framed!’”; and
“Is Sweatshop Cognizant Getting a Dose of Poetic Justice? Family of Indian H-1B Murderer-Suicide, Pawan Kumar, Who Killed American Danielle Mehlman, is Driving Company Crazy with Demands.”]
21 comments:
1)Answers to two questions in your post:
Meaning of chutzpah in Kannada (the mother tongue of Pawan Kumar (as well as mine)) is Bandathana /Uddatathana.
2)In all probability he took the Amtrak + public bus to reach Belleville from Wilmington
Dump the worthless piece of crap in the nearest dumpster. And his family can go pound sand.
“Only after all these documents are received will the family be ready to accept the body,”
Deliver the documents by nailing them to the head of the corpse, if delivery is refused, feed the "package" to the sharks.
This gives you an idea of just how much the idea the US is a country that can be scammed has permeated the world. Even on the other side of the world people understand there is a system in the US designed to cater to and sympathize with foreigners no matter how absurd their demands are.
Can you imagine any American making these kind of demands to a foreign government under this kind of circumstance? Even if they had a legitimate complaint about something you won't find many Americans adopting such an entitled attitude. I thought Americans were the ones stereotypes to be demanding and entitled?
This guy (pavan) is not a fit guy to travel overseas..Not at all sophisticated..Wonder how he ended up with an engineering degree in first place and how he landed a job in cognizant. I hate these service companies (infosys, congizant, wipro, TCS etc) who go to all lousy campuses and recruit guys in hundreds in a span of a day or two so that they can execute projects outsourced from other countries.. How can you judge the performance of so many guys in the campuses in such a short span of time.. These kind of guys are a blot to the profession. So a cheap guy from an average college put on software projects and his manager finds him a "suitable guy" to go abroad to USA !! I guess his manager is probably even less sophisticated....That guy should be kicked out too...what a shame.....While his parents may not know what has gone on or what is going on, they seem to be surrounded by wrong guys (that uncle of his or the advocates) who want to extract some benefits from cognizant as they think they is an opportunity to make money..
Note to the author...FIR is the abbreviation for First Information Report, which is the first (fundamental) step towards registering a police complaint in India (in the context of an accident or a crime etc). Unless a FIR is filed no action can be taken by the cops..
Dude, India is no more a third world country..are you living in 1950s or are you a racist!!
Mr.Nix - Love the neighbor..that is the core of any religion..For all other things like abortion lot of folks keep shouting about religion, but they never follow the core principle or teaching of Jesus..You are going to Hell if you are a racist.
Of interest is that usually h-1Bs work for a total of six years, usually in two 3-year sets. Why was he out after just over 1 year? Probably a really horrible worker.
Anonymous, why are you rushing to defend a murderer?
This guy probably got into Engg. College on a BC/OBC reservation (caste-based quota, akin to a racial quota, usually voted in by majority castes in India). Cognizant would have been very happy to recruit 'IT Specialists' from a half-price mofussil college, because it maximizes profit, as well as helps them claim 'social responsibility'.
BCs/OBCs tend to have a very keen sense of entitlement, after having been fed from childhood with a tale of 'oppression' at the hands of the 'upper castes'.
They can't be flunked in school and their threshold grade for entry to college and Govt. jobs is much lower than the general crowd. All along, they're told that they are over-achievers who've been held down by oppression.
H1-Bs can work for any period up to 6 years. The body-shops tend to keep them on the bench in India (to save on on-site wages) and send them to the client site for whatever duration is needed, only when necessary. If it's short duration stuff, they also use B1 business visas. For slightly longer durations, they use L1s. For 1-year stints and longer, they tend to use H1-Bs, because of the risk of refusal of the other visa types. Purely a business decision, nothing to do with the ability of the worker.
Mr.Nicholas. Thanks to you, for it is your posts that has been giving the most information about this case than any other.
But it is sad to see that the narration always has quite a racial tone to it.Calling India or any country "Third world", or referring to religion or family values across the globe, is completely unnecessary.It would be nicer to stick to gathering facts and bringing it to the readers (which you have been doing really well thus far) instead of getting judgemental.There is a certain amount of responsibility we take when we are in the position of parting information to others and keeping it to actual details and not biased opinions.
This whole case is being discussed, like this is the first crime in the US and the first women being killed by a man for such reasons.It is no less a crime if it was another american killing a girl for the same reason. Be it Indian or American or any other immigrant in this country, there are always a few people with issues. And Pavan and Danielle seem to be part of the population which had issues. Pavan Killing another person(yet to be proved) or commiting suicide and Danielle accepting expensive gifts from a person for whom she had no real feelings or flirting with him is not the right thing to do. Being the sole bread winner of his family and being a mother of a 4 year old, both should have acted more responsibly is my opinion.
Pavan's family not accepting his body and coming up with such unrealistic demands is just putting themselves to more shame and cheap publicity. The very thought for any parent that their son's body is lying in some funeral home in foreign land for so many days or weeks now, is good enough for them to forget all materialistic demands and get his remains back. Even if he is a murderer, for the parent it is still their child and refusing to believe that he killed someone or commited suicide is quite natural- be it in any culture or nation. But demands like this...i dont get it. It is either the media/lawyers trying to give them wrong ideas and making money out of the situation. This family should know better.
If and when the details of the suicide note is released, please publish the information , as that is the only one that can give the most accurate information, if only Pavan decided to come up with a story to justify himself in the suicide note, like the one he made up with the cab driver that night - then we have to make our own assumptions.
Thanks again Mr.Nicholas for sharing any information you've got on this case so far.
By the way, I am an Indian and have been living in the US for 10 years now. But your comments about the my country as a whole does not hurt me. It is just your opinion.Even if i live in the US for the rest of my life,i never will be able to come to any general conclusion on any women who act like Danielle to call them all whores ( God knows what depression she was going through to chose this wrong channel to vent). I came to this country on my first assignment through the very Cognizant referred to you as "SweatShop'. I believe i am in a better position to say if it is one or not.It opened a world of opportunities to me, and after my first 2 years with them i was willing let go or encouraged to go full-time with my client then - one of the biggest banks in the country.I have been, since then working for many Wall Street Financial firms till date. It is up to the individual to make the best use of the opportunities given to them.No firm can legally hold you back or work completely against all employment rules and regulations of the country and practice slavery. There is so much to be admired about my country and the United States.They are just two different life styles, both with their own set of positives and negatives.
I am a Green Card Holder from India, came earlier through H1-B. I speak the same language as that of Pawan, but I belong to a minority Christian family. My view is that No-one can be sure if the boy really killed her because suicide note is still not shared, but in every site I see more and more comments saying that the boy has killed her, assuming that no-one can help a single Mother without expecting some benefits in return. This assumption is WRONG because as a minority Indian Christian, I work with my church to help the poor Mothers in Indian villages without expecting anything in return. I call it volunteering, but most of the people in India accused me of helping the families only to get something in return (which they assumed to be conversion to Christianity). Why can't people think of the possibility that Pawan is also doing volunteering work just like what I do. Maybe Pawan was volunteering to help the single Mother without knowing that she is the stripper, and killing must have been done by someone else. Why do people assume that no Indians volunteer without getting anything in return. But, Pawan's family are not taking right decisions at all by blaming the employer.
Mr Anonymous from the the state of Pawan and speak the same language as Pawan.
Dont talk foolishly. Indian guys who volunteer almost never go to some grill,strip clubs, Star boards etc. He is definitely not volunteering and I am 100% sure. In short he has over reached himself without sticking to his job doing some pitly programming and you know fully well that one doesnt need an Engineering degree that Pawan has to do the pitly job that he was doing at Cognizant. Since many Americans were not willing to do that pitly job(that need some mental stretching) and comforatble at Best Buy CSR, the organization like Cognizant ,IBM,Accenutere etc are flourishing by employing Indians .
Talk plainly. You have Green card and he doesnt. He may have probably found wanting in the job and was re-located back to India. This is could be one reason for him to pursue Mehlan to get immigrant benefits, which may backfired as she after having 20 boy friends wanted to settle with man like Pawan with a steady job(Which may not be steady from his personal point of view). The other reason could be that his approach to the girl is not sophisticated as he never had any girl friend and he could not digest the public humiliation met out to him, like true egoistic Indian male.
Be practical, he is the killer and the unfortunate part is that this murder is for very silli reasons.
But, you have a point. He doesnt' look that strong to kill her alone. I also wonder as to why did she go with him to the hotel room, when he was kicked out of the starboard apparently at her behest. Did he entice with offer of more money???
She didn't go back with him to the motel room, from the Starboard. He alone was kicked out, apparently after drinking too much and harassing a male patron (who may have been trying to hit on Danielle - no surprise, she was the good-looking blonde, not him). He went back to his motel room alone. Some time later, she went back to the motel, perhaps to retrieve her car and personal belongings, and unfortunately entered the room where Kumar was probably waiting in a drunken and jealous fit of rage. The rest is only a matter of forensics...
To Mr/Ms Anonymous,
Thanks for your response, I do appreciate your response. I would like to make it clear that I am not saying that I am right or you are right, but just saying that anything is possible. You can be right or I can be right too, but I do feel that the biggest possibility is that you are right.
I agree with you that a volunteer never goes to strip clubs, but based on the media reports, we can't be certain that he went to strip club because one part of the media says that Pawan met Mehlman through dating site whereas the other media says that they met at strip club. Which one is correct ? If they had really met at strip club rather than dating site (without knowing that she is a stripper), then I completely support your views. I just do not want to be certain about any views till I am 100% sure.
One of the possibilities you mention about is that Pawan hooked up with her just for Green Card. People say the same about me that I dated an American citizen (Armenian background)just to get green card even-though the fact is that I received my Green card through company even before I married her. People should be sure that they are speaking right before they throw allegations like marriage only for green card, volunteering only for getting returns, etc.
Since there are conflicting stories, I am waiting for investigation to be over, but I am just trying to cover up the views that many are not covering, which is the chance of volunteering without knowing that the girl is a stripper. Strip clubs are evil and me being religious, I have never gone to one.
I appreciate your views anyway and you might be right too, but it can only be a guess till full investigation results are out.
You never know the true story until there is a strong investigation chasing this incident. Was it preplanned murder ? Did he do it or was a third party involved ?
Yesterday, in Tracy City, California, a 62 years old Indian woman, a motel owner was raped and killed by 25 years old Stephen Carreiro, a US Army Veteran. He also assaulted her 82 years old mother….So now should all of India label US as country of perverted psycho killers? Label US as suffering from First World Superiority complex? Will his parents accept that their son could do such a thing, w/o evidence?
It is indeed deeply disturbing and tragic that Danielle was murdered. There seems to be no doubt that if Pavan (which looks most likely the killer) was caught, he would have been convicted for this crime of passion.
But, I would ask a simple question to all of those who are belittling Pavan's parents... Will you as a parent ever believe your child could do such a thing without any evidence? Please wear a sensible hat and think…
Come on people...give them a break... there is no Third World superiority here; it's simply parental instincts and emotions. They lost their only child and support in their old age, similar to Danielle’s little daughter losing the only parent she had...
What we have is a tragedy caused by a series of unthoughtful actions. These are individual acts of unstable people who could not tell right from wrong...
There are over 3 million people of Indian origin living in US, and over some 70,000 US citizens in India, how many do you see actually indulging in criminal activities? They are all law abiding professionals, engineers, doctors or business people.
India and US have very good and friendly relations, we as people (especially bloggers) should restrain ourselves from making derogatory remarks or instigate hatred.
Peace to all...
Mr Kannada/Minority....
Nice to kow happily married to an American(Armenian Background). Nice to know also that you were minority Chritian In India. Let us wait for the findings. However, I assumed certain things based on the reports in the media about his green card efforts.
But, I sincerely feel that there is no necessary for you to mention that you were from minority .christian community and doing volunteer work. I was wondering that if only you sruck to the development/volunteer work in India, it would have been a great service to the mankind and India, instead of ending up here in this materialistc USA that has exported its strange culutre to India in the garb of 'Liberalisation"..
Your mention of minority community appear to convey the meaning that India is discriminating against you etc.. I strongly suggest that you refrain from such comments even if Pawan may have been from weaker sections(minority) and need some sympathy on that account.
We know that Karnataka has conservative(rightist) party at the helm, but there is peculiar situation that a Hindu Godman is badly humilated/dsicriminated. You know India is complex society as opposed to robotic/artificail culture in USA.
Vishnu
I personally don't care where he is from...as a murderer, I hope he burns in hell for what he has done to such a beautiful and loyal friend. Overdose...going that way was just too good for him. So I pray...I pray every night that wherever he is, he is suffering...like we all quietly are inside...
His parents should be punished for producing such a horrific monster! And shame on them for their demands on that company the monster worked for ! ! I am appalled at their ignorance , arrogance , and downright stupidity ! ! Apparently they received the murder's suicide letter admitting to stabbing and killing Danielle
Because they seem to have shut up with their stupid comments ! ! ! I hope and pray that there is some kind of legal action daniel's family can bring against them . Even if they only have two bottles of curry to their ( now tarnished name ) I hope Danielle 's family gets them both ! ! What a disgrace ! ! ! ! !
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