Garima Kothari, 35 and Manmohan Mall, 37, owners of Nukkad, a restaurant in Jersey City, New Jersey, were found dead Sunday, April 26, morning and prosecution believes they were the victims of a murder-suicide.
Mall, 37, was found unresponsive in the Hudson River near Montgomery Street and Exchange Place — not far from from Nukkad.
Kothari, 35, was found dead at the home on Christopher Columbus Drive. She suffered head trauma.
Police found Kothari dead in the couple's apartment around 7:15 a.m. Around half-hour later, police found Mall dead in the Hudson.
Kothari moved to Jersey City in 2015 after living in Florida, she told ChicPeaJC in a 2016 interview, according to nj.com. She was also a pastry chef, event organizer, home chef-instructor and made it to the top 15 on MasterChef in India, she said in the interview.
Before her cooking career, she was an investment banker, the article said. In 2009, she received her MBA in accounting and finance.
Mall was the vice president at Deutsche Bank in New York, according to his Linkedin. He graduated at Indian Institute of Technology in 2006 before completing his masters in 2009 at Columbia University.
Mall came to the U.S. about a decade ago to pursue his masters degree at Columbia University. Kothari came a few years later, a family spokesperson told Daily Voice.
HOMICIDE UNIT INVESTIGATES TWO FATALITIES IN JERSEY CITY
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez released the following information:
On Sunday, April 26, 2020, the Jersey City Police Department responded to a report of a possible suicide attempt in the Hudson River near Montgomery Street in Jersey City. Upon arrival, responding officers found an unresponsive male in the river near Montgomery Street and Exchange Place. The male, later identified as Man Mohan Mall, age 37, of Jersey City was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:55 a.m.
Jersey City Police Officers also responded to his residence on Christopher Columbus Drive in Jersey City. Responding officers found an unresponsive female with apparent trauma to her upper body. The female was identified as Garima Kothari, age 35, who was also a resident at that address. She was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:15 a.m.
The Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit is actively investigating this case with assistance from the Jersey City Police Department. While it appears at this time that these deaths are the result of a murder-suicide, the final determination is still pending the findings of the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip on the Hudson County Prosecutor’s official website at http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/. All information will be kept confidential.
