Indian-origin pharma CEO shot dead by gunman in US

New York: An Indian-origin top executive of a pharmaceutical company in the US state of New Jersey was shot dead by a gunman who followed him home from a casino for robbery, media reports said on Saturday.

Sree Ranga Aravapalli, 54, a resident of New Jersey's Plainsboro, was killed shortly after arriving home by a gunman who, according to authorities, followed him from a casino outside Philadelphia at around 3:30 AM (local time) on Tuesday, the CBC New York newspaper reported.

The wealthy pharmaceutical executive was followed for 50 miles (80 kms) from a Pennsylvania casino to his New Jersey home where he was murdered in an attempted robbery while his wife and daughter were sleeping, the New York Post newspaper quoted the police as saying.

Aravapalli cashed out his night's big winnings, about USD 10,000, in the early morning hours of Tuesday at the Parx Casino in Bensalem when he was spotted with the loot by 27-year-old Jekai Reid-John, of Pennsylvania's Norristown, the Post report said.