Indian techie kills self after shooting wife, son in Washington

WASHINGTON: An Indian tech entrepreneur committed suicide after shooting his wife and son to death in Washington. The details of the tragic incident that took place last week in Newcastle, Washington came out just today.

Harshavardhana S. Kikkeri (57), his wife Shweta Panyam (44) and their 14-year-old son, all natives of Mandya in Karnataka have died in the incident. The couple also has another son. Police say the boy was not at home at the time of the incident and escaped. The children's details have not been released.

Local media reports that Harshavardhana's family was reclusive, having only little contact with neighbours. Harshavardhana was the founder and CEO of Mysore-based robotics company Holoworld. Shweta was the co-founder. The family moved to India in 2017 and founded Holoworld. However, due to the Covid pandemic, they returned to the US in 2022. Harshavardhana has also worked at Microsoft.