A Massachusetts man added his brother to his wife’s life insurance policy just days before he killed her and their teen daughter in a murder-suicide.
Rakesh ‘Rick’ Kamal, 57, shot his wife Teena, 54, and their daughter Arianna multiple times in the head as they slept in their beds at the family’s $6.7 million Dover mansion in December. He then turned the gun on himself.
Four days before the killings, the Genwroth insurance company in Virginia received a fax with Teena’s signature that requested a change in the beneficiaries of her $1.25 million life insurance policy, as reported by the Boston Globe.
Teena’s policy had originally listed her husband as the primary beneficiary, and the backup beneficiary was their daughter.
But the fax asked that Rick and Arianna be made the primary beneficiaries, and Rick’s brother Manoj Kamal would be the contingent.
Rakesh ‘Rick’ Kamal, 57, shot his wife Teena, 54, and their daughter Arianna multiple times in the head as they slept in their beds at the family’s $6.7 million Dover mansion in December
The murders rocked the community, where Rick was considered to be a wealthy entrepreneur and doting father running a successful start-up business.
However following his death, DailyMail.com uncovered documents that revealed Rick had filed for bankruptcy and was served with a foreclosure notice just three months before the killings.
A fax asked that Rick and Arianna be made the primary beneficiaries, and Kamal’s brother Manoj Kamal (pictured) would be the contingent
The family has spent the months since the killings wading through the messy finances left by Rick, with his and Teena’s siblings fighting over the life insurance payout.
The legal battle began after Manoj filed a claim with Genworth to collect the payout, prompting Teena’s brother Sandeep Bedi to send correspondence to the insurance company raising concerns about the killings and the change of beneficiaries.
In response to Sandeep’s claims, Genworth asked a federal court in April to decide who gets the payout.
Manoj and Sandeep now have until August 2 to either settle or move towards a civil trial – which could uncover more details about the gruesome murder-suicide.
Since the killings, Rick’s family have confirmed that the veneer of perfection ran so deep even his wife and daughter had no idea they were drowning in debt.
‘We put him on a pedestal so high you cannot imagine,’ Sandeep previously told the Boston Globe. ‘So now, for us to reconcile not just that he murdered my sister and my niece, but that he was lying to us for years — it just cannot even sink in.’
Teena Kamal, 54, was found dead alongside her husband and teen daughter at her Dover home. Her husband had hidden the full extent of their financial woes from her
Arianna Kamal, 18, (pictured) was discovered dead with her parents in their Dover, Massachusetts, home. She recently graduated from Milton Academy and began attending Middlebury College to study neuroscience
Rick purchased his $6.7 million home predominantly using borrowed money and had received a foreclosure notice after failing to keep up repayments
The outlet also uncovered evidence that Rick owed ‘a substantial amount of money’ to relatives, per probate documents filed at court.
Sandeep added that he had loaned his brother-in-law $500,000 and that Rick had forbidden him from telling his wife about it.
‘Teena had no clue that there were financial problems,’ Sandeep said. ‘She thought that they were rolling in money. ‘I would never in my wildest dreams question what Rick is doing.’
The family was found dead by Rick’s brother Manoj on December 28 – three weeks after a foreclosure notice was served on their sprawling 20,000-square-foot home, which they bought for $4 million in 2019.
Now valued at $6.7 million, it has since emerged the mansion was bought with $3.8 million borrowed from the property’s builder rather than a bank, with the money needing to be repaid within two years.
But by 2021, interest and fines had spiraled out of control and despite an effort to restructure the mortgage, foreclosure notices were served.
‘Had he shared it with Teena and us, this was not a problem that could not have been solved,’ Sandeep said.
The Kamal family were found dead on Thursday night at their 27-room property on Wilson’s Way in Dover. The Kamals’ home was assessed at $6.7 million, according to town records
Rick was in serious financial troubles in the run up to the killings, but had led his family to believe he was still in the process of purchasing this $16.5 million Tennessee chateau
He added that the sole comfort of the entire situation is that investigators believe his sister and niece were asleep when they were shot multiple times.
‘That ignorance is bliss,’ Sandeep said. ‘They didn’t see it coming.’
Even as the foreclosure was being processed, Teena was under the impression they were still moving forward with the purchase of a $16.5 million chateau along Tennessee’s Chickamauga Lake.
Listing agent James Perry said that Rick had provided bank statements proving his ‘ability to purchase’. The family toured the property, with Teena even starting to purchase furniture – but the contract was never signed.
The illusion of wealth was propped up by Rick at every turn. Arianna attended an elite private school Milton Academy and was given expensive music tuition while attending Middlebury College.
The family drove a luxury car and Rick would continuously show up to work in bespoke tailoring, according to former colleagues who revealed that Rick had been pushed out his role at Harvard Business School.
The father-of-one took on the role of chief technology officer in 2015 and was gone by 2019.
An archived version of the school’s website showed that his position was open less than four months after he bought the Dover property. His wife reportedly believed he was still employed there as late as 2023.
A veneer of wealth surrounded the family, which included the use of luxury cars and sending their daughter to a prestigious private school all while owing relatives money
The family’s name is seen on a sign outside their luxurious home
The couple operated at start-up, EduNova, an education tech company which he promoted on multiple daytime TV shows, positing himself as a parenting expert and offering tips.
However, the Globe found that his claims on the company website that he was graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management were overstated.
Rick merely participated in several nondegree executive courses and received a certificate. Several employees listed on the website also claimed they had nothing to do with the company.
Similarly, his wife’s claims that she was a Harvard alumnus could not be verified by the school.
Teena was an active member in her daughter’s school community and volunteered for the Red Cross, routinely donating more than $10,000 a year to the cause.
In 2022 her efforts saw her appointed to the board of directors of its Massachusetts arm and joining its Tiffany Circle for female donors.
Rick portrayed himself as a doting father, even penning blog post extolling advice in 2012 on how to be an effective parent.
‘Cherish your child as much as you can in the present moment,’ he wrote.
Rick presented as a doting dad, even appearing on daytime TV to offer parenting tips to promote his now defunct education tech company
‘Life is too short, and the years pass before you know it. Don’t waste one day. Express your love to your child today and as often as you can.’
His deception was confirmed by officials probing the case.
‘The investigation to this point has not produced evidence that either of the women knew the extent of the family’s financial problems,’ David Traub, a spokesperson for the Norfolk district attorney’s office, said.
