By Jeffry Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/15/08
Eight years ago Chiman Rai allegedly paid Mississippi hit men $10,000 to choke and stab his daughter-in-law to death in her Union City apartment while her 7-month-old daughter was nearby.

Her offense? She married his son, an Indian.

And she was black.

On Monday Rai, 69, goes on trial in Atlanta, accused of masterminding the murder of Sparkle Michelle Rai, 22. Fulton County prosecutors are asking for the death penalty as the family of the victim seeks finally to see justice served.

"The prosecutors have done a good job with this," Sparkle Rai's father, Bennet Reid Jr., said Saturday. "We'll be there in the courtroom. For years my daughter has had no voice. Now, finally, her voice will be heard."

Chiman Rai, a native of India, brought his family to the U.S. in 1970. He taught math at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, later ran a supermarket and then bought a hotel in Louisville, Ky., where he hired Sparkle as a clerk.

There Sparkle met his son, 18-year-old Rajeeve "Ricky" Rai, who also worked at the hotel. The two fell in love and married. Sparkle's father and stepmother, Donna Lowry, a reporter for WXIA-TV in Atlanta, recalled later that Rai's family at first seemed to approve of their 18-year-old son dating a black woman.

But, prosecutors said, in April 2000 —- a month after Sparkle and Ricky were married —- a contract killer showed up at the door of the newlywed's Union City apartment, along with two women pretending to deliver a package.

When Sparkle opened the door, the 300-pound ex-con hit man attacked her with such savagery she didn't have time to throw up her arms and shield herself from his knife.

She was stabbed at least 13 times in the back, neck, chest and ribs. She was strangled and her throat slit. When Ricky, then 20, returned home from work he found her body and called police.

The couple's 7-month-old daughter, Analla, was unharmed in the next room. Sparkle's father and stepmother later assumed custody of the girl when Ricky Rai moved away from Atlanta.

A break in the case came four years later when one of the women who accompanied the alleged hit man to Sparkle Rai's apartment was arrested on a drug charge by Atlanta police.

She told them she knew who killed Sparkle —- and that she and a friend witnessed the killing. The women's stories led to what authorities now say was a murder plot concocted by Chiman Rai.

Rai and four others were arrested in September 2006 and charged in the murder. Rai's attorney could not be reached for comment Friday. At a bond hearing in 2006, defense attorney Mike McDaniel

now THIS is some wild shit!!!

***shakes head***

I won't say it.

RIP Sparkle Michelle Rai.

you know?

alcorn state sounded familiar.....


steve mcnair went there...and it's an HBcU.....

so this filthy animal TAUGHT and got a paycheck from a black school......probably catered to Black clientelle at his store and hotel.....but killed black woman that married his son...and would have gotten away with it?

unbeleivable!!!



l

Yep!!..all that love and money flowing in from Black People and then you stab us in the back for marrying your kind...now you know why Idi Dada Amin is a hero despite his many flaws...
And what people would do for $10,000 shared amongst say 5 people...guess people would even kill for much less...lamentable

Defendant's Son Testifies in Murder-for-hire Trial
Last Edited: Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008, 6:43 PM EDT Created: Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008, 12:52 PM EDT

ATLANTA (MyFox Atlanta) – The husband of a woman allegedly killed in a murder-for-hire plot took the stand Tuesday. Sparkle Michelle Rai was killed in April of 2000 because prosecutors said her father-in-law disapproved of his son's interracial marriage.

The husband of a woman murdered eight years ago says he was wrong to have told police his parents were "kind of racist" shortly after his wife was murdered in April 2000.

Ricky Rai said in court on Tuesday he had either lied or made false assumptions when giving that comment to police.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Chiman Rai, who allegedly had the woman killed because of her race.

Chiman Rai, a one-time math professor and hotel owner, is accused of hiring a hit man to kill his daughter-in-law because she was African-American.

Sparkle Rai was stabbed and strangled in the doorway of her Union City apartment in the spring of 2000. Investigators said a knife and vacuum cord were used to kill the woman. For years, the case went nowhere, but in 2004 police said they got the break they were looking for.

Prosecutors said Rai used a middleman to hire Carl and Cleveland Clark. The brothers allegedly pulled off the crime, which took place with the victim's 7-month-old daughter nearby, for $10,000.

The defense provided an alternate motive. They said Sparkle Rai wasn't killed because of the interracial relationship, but that her husband was a drug dealer who had drugs and money at the house and that's why the hit men were there.

The defense also says she wasn't murdered because her father-in-law disapproved of the marriage, but because the hit men believed her husband was a drug dealer and that there were drugs and money in the house.

Sparkle Rai's family, is now raising her daughter.
This story content provided by FOX 5 Atlanta WAGA

Talkback about this subject on FOX 5’s Forums

MyFox Atlanta | Defendant's Son Testifies in Murder-for-hire Trial

^^Video footage of trial^^

And this is why black people always getting f@cked. Black people always throwing their money and love to other people and think that these people are going to like us and respect us in return. That is nothing but pure ignorance and naive. That woman should have known that those people don't like us and it is agaisnt their culture to marry out of their class/status/tribe/culture/race. Race is a huge problem especially if they marry black. I wouldn't have gave that boy the time of day even if he did appeared "nice". Black people are the only people who want to marry and sleep with another race just because they seem to like us. The man was never cool with black people and it is black people fault for overlooking it or being unknowledgable of it.

I wouldn't go so far.......but you can tell during the course of a friendship or business relationship whether a person holds prejudices.


I've had hot and cold relationships with people from India....I'm not one to hold my tongue so when person says crazy stuff they get checked and corrected immediately.The garbage ends RIGHT there.

what I've found is that some of us like to be pated on the head from outsiders....and allow them to disrespect other black people in our presence. and we grin and keep tapdancing for them.....

I totally agree with you. And this is partially the cause of our downfall.

I hope that vile man rots in jail.

Thank You! We must keep in mind that other races say things that is in our favor just to win us over. Every time another race talks good about blacks in our presence or compliment us on every damn thing... there's something fishy. Black people are not wise. I'm not even mad about the murder. I'm mad because once again another Black got played when it didn't have to go that far.

She should not have married his son. He didn't even care about her. She should've found a black man to marry.

wow... you sound like me.

hmmmm