US: Indian admits burning sons to death, sentenced to life

An Indian man was today sentenced to life imprisonment in the US after he pleaded guilty to setting afire his two sons, who succumbed to their injuries in 2007.

Kaushik Patel, 37 from Glendale Heights near here entered the guilty plea in DuPage County Circuit Court.

In return for his plea, Patel would not be sentenced to death but would remain behind bars for life, without possibility of parole.

Patel replied "Yes" when Judge Kathryn Creswell told him, "You will die in prison, do you understand that?" DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett agreed not to seek the death penalty after talks with defense attorneys.

"This disposition provides the closure the victims' mother was hoping for. I had to take that into consideration. Ultimately, I am satisfied with the disposition," he added.

Patel said little during the sentencing hearing, except to acknowledge that he was aware of the punishment being imposed.

He lowered his head and wept softly during the hearing as prosecutors recounted the murders of his sons.

Patel faced first degree murder charges for burning his two sons Vishv 7 and Om, 4, on November 18, 2007.

According to the State Attorney, in November 2007 Patel had lured his two young sons into the bathroom of their Glendale Heights home where he then doused them with gasoline and set them on fire.

Later, Patel drove his two boys to a relative's house approximately five miles away where the relative alerted authorities. A couple of months later, the boys succumbed to their injuries.    

Patel, who was also injured in the attack but has since recovered, had claimed that he was attempting suicide when the boys ran into the room and accidentally were splashed with gasoline and caught on fire.

Public defenders had said in August 2008 that Patel was willing to accept a life sentence in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

Birkett had at that time rejected the offer as prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty for Patel.

But last month prosecutors had told the court that Patel would be pleading guilty in return for a life sentence.

He is being held in the DuPage County jail.

The boys' mother Nisha Patel had told the court at a pre-trial hearing earlier that while battling for life in a hospital, Vishv had described to her in detail how Patel had set them on fire.

Patel married Nisha in August 1997 in India and came to the US five years later. They divorced in July 1, 2008.

Nisha was told Patel took the boys out to buy toy cars, stopped to buy gasoline and returned with the boys to the family home in Glendale Heights.

She said Vishv said their father "told them to get into the bathroom and get into a green tub", and then poured gasoline on them.

"What Patel is accused of, intentionally setting his own sons on fire, is unspeakable," Birkett had said.

"This complete disregard for human life is just gut-wrenching.

"These two young boys suffered unimaginable pain, allegedly at the hands of their own father," he added.