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Husband, Pregnant Wife Dead In Jersey City Murder-Suicide Were Dedicated Restaurant Owners

UPDATE: The 35-year-old Jersey City restaurateur killed in an apparent murder-suicide Sunday morning was five months pregnant, and her death was ruled a homicide, authorities announced Monday. 

Garima Kothari and Manmohan Mall, of Jersey City.

Garima Kothari and Manmohan Mall, of Jersey City.

Photo Credit: Garima Kothari Facebook
Kothari, a talented chef, was extremely friendly and dedicated to her profession, her family told Daily Voice from India.

Kothari, a talented chef, was extremely friendly and dedicated to her profession, her family told Daily Voice from India.

Photo Credit: Garima Kothari
Kothari and Mall on a recent trip to Nashville.

Kothari and Mall on a recent trip to Nashville.

Photo Credit: Garima Kothari

** ORIGINAL STORY BELOW **

She was a talented chef, dedicated to her profession. He was an intelligent graduate of India Institute of Technology, who came to the U.S. to pursue his master's degree.

Together, Garima Kothari and Manmohan Mall were a happy couple, and owners of Nukkad, an Indian restaurant a few blocks from their Jersey City high-rise apartment, relatives say. 

Both were found dead Sunday morning in what authorities are calling an apparent murder-suicide.

Family members, most of whom were back in India, were still trying to understand the tragedy while speaking to Daily Voice hours later.

Police found Kothari, 35, dead in the couple's Christopher Columbus Drive apartment around 7:15 a.m., with trauma to her upper body, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

Around half-hour later, police found her 37-year-old husband dead in the Hudson River near Montgomery Street and Exchange Place, Suarez said.

Mall came to the U.S. about a decade ago to pursue his master's degree at Columbia University. Kothari came a few years later, a designated family spokesperson told Daily Voice.

"They were a nice couple," said an employee of Nukkad, the Indian restaurant on Greene Street that Kothari and Mall owned together.

"Manmohan, a Columbia and IIT graduate, was a very intelligent and caring person," the family member told Daily Voice. "Garima, a talented chef, was extremely friendly and dedicated to her profession."

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.

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