Man charged in deadly apartment fire

A 57-year-old suburban Chicago man faces charges that he intentionally set an apartment fire that killed three family members, allegedly because his son-in-law didn't ask his permission to marry his daughter, prosecutors said.

Subhash Chander of Oak Forest was ordered held without bond Tuesday on three counts of first-degree murder, one count of intentional homicide of an unborn child and one count of aggravated arson.

Prosecutors allege Chander bought gasoline and carried it in a large prescription medicine container to his pregnant daughter's apartment where he started the fire late Saturday.

Chander, a native of India, told police he disliked his son-in-law because he belonged to a lower caste in India and had married his daughter without his consent, said Cook County 1st Assistant State's Attorney Robert Milan.

"His son-in-law was beneath him in his opinion," Milan said.

But Chander's sister, Kamla Devi, told WBBM 780-AM that her brother is innocent. She said relatives approved of the marriage and that the caste system was not a consideration for her family in India nor is it a consideration now in the United States.

"There was no family problem. There was nothing going on. Absolutely nothing," Devi said.

Devi told the radio station that the family is from Chandigarh in northern India.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the deaths homicides on Monday and said the victims died of carbon-monoxide poisoning and smoke and soot inhalation.

Milan identified the victims as 22-year-old Monika Rani, her 36-year-old husband, Rajesh Kumar, and their 3-year-old son, Vansh. Rani was five months pregnant, Milan said.

Chander was represented by a public defender in bond court Tuesday, according to Milan. The Associated Press was unable to determine who that attorney was. A call placed to a phone listing for Chander reached a man who said it was a wrong number.

Chander told police the gasoline spilled during "a pushing match" with his son-in-law, Milan said. Chander also told police that he ignited the gas with a lighter because he was angry, Milan said.

But prosecutors doubt there was a fight that led to the gas spilling and said the victims may even have been asleep. All the other residents of the apartment building were able to escape, but the victims didn't even call to report the fire, Milan said.

It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze, which gutted the 36-unit Le Claire Station Apartments.

Chander could be seen purchasing gasoline on a service station surveillance videotape, Milan said. He also was identified by witnesses who said they saw him buy the gas and later place a container in a trash receptacle outside his apartment across the street from the apartment building that burned, Milan said.

A pharmaceutical container retrieved from the trash by authorities smelled of gas and had Chander's name on it, Milan said.