Popular Indian American Chef Shot Dead in California

A very popular Bay Area-based Indian American chef was found shot dead in his California home early Wednesday morning.

Police said they are treating the Dominic Sarkar’s death as a homicide after his neighbor called to report about gunshots being heard in his house at 12.30 a.m.

Sarkar, 56, was the executive chef at the Rangoli restaurant in Fremont. Quoting police officials, broadcaster CBS San Francisco said that an unknown suspect left Sarkar’s house on a bicycle.

“We talked to the witness or the reporting party, and he said that he saw a male leaving the general area of the front door of the residence and get on to a bicycle and pedal away,” the broadcaster reported.

The police officer said that Sarkar had rented a room toward the rear of the home which he shared with another family. The family has told the police they have no knowledge of the suspect and neither they saw anyone entering or leaving the premises.

The police tried its best to catch the suspect by setting up a parameter but removed it by 7.30 am after they failed to find any trace of the suspect.

According to local news reports, Sarkar was a familiar name in the Indian culinary circuit. He had earlier worked with Passage to India, Mountain View for nine years as executive chef and was currently working with Rangoli, Flavors of India. Broadcaster ABC 7 News said Sarkar was to leave for India on the day he was murdered to visit his wife and three daughters and was to return on Nov.4.

One of his former colleagues said that he was loved by everybody. “He was very well respected, and he was a master at his work,” his colleague told the newspaper.

Before moving to the U.S., Sarkar had previously worked at restaurants in New Delhi, Dubai, Philadelphia and San Mateo. He was known for creating a fusion of Indian dishes with a French tinge.