Crime & Safety

Kumra Murder: Out of Wedlock Children Ordered Monthly Allowance

Judge rules this week two small children fathered by the slain Monte Sereno businessman are entitled to support from his estate.

 

The late Monte Sereno businessman Raveesh "Ravi" Kumra, who died of asphyxiation during a violent home invasion robbery at his opulent mansion Nov. 30, 2012, is said to have been associated with prostitutes, but also a mistress with whom he had two children.

According to court documents, Kumra, 66, had two daughters with a 40-year-old woman, Keila R. Goggins, who filed a claim in Santa Clara County Superior Court probate division in January seeking family allowance from the Kumra estate for the children, two girls ages 9 and 7.

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This week, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas William Cain granted the petition for the payment after evidentiary hearings were conducted March 22, April 8 and 11, receiving testimony that led the magistrate to rule that the girls are entitled to such payments from the estate as Kumra's children.

"Are [the girls] the minor children of the decedent under the foregoing probate code provision? By clear and convincing evidence the answer is in the affirmative. The evidence demonstrated that they are the biological children of the decedent; that he openly held them out as his own children and acknowledged them as such," the judge wrote in his decision handed down April 29.

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Kumra also had two daughters with his ex-wife Harinder Kumra, whom he divorced in March of 2010. In January, Anisha and Raina Kumra, ages 34 and 35, respectively, became administrators of Kumra's estate.

Kumra also sent the girls $302,468,50 for the period of 2001-2012, according to the judge's statement.

Testimony was presented by numerous witnesses that Kumra's financial generosity toward the girls was intended for one-time circumstances such as taking care of unpaid medical bills or for single events.

The Kumra estate claimed the girls were conceived through artificial insemination and through a sperm donor agreement that called for no financial liability from Kumra to support the children. However, the girls' attorney, Matthew A. Crosby, contended the sperm donor agreement was executed after the birth of the first child and that the girls were conceived through sexual intercourse.

The judge also said, coupled with Kumra's trips to see them in Florida and New York where they lived and other interactions with them over the years, the evidence strongly pointed to such a relationship.

The judge ordered the Kumra estate to pay $1,800 a month family allowance for each child and that the payment is retroactive to the date of his death. Although the children were born out of wedlock, it doesn't affect their rights to a family allowance, Crosby wrote in his trial brief seeking the compensation.

The Kumra estate can now appeal the judge's order within 10 days. Crosby wrote said in his brief that the girls have no alternate source of financial support.

The girls' mother never went to college, was sexually molested by a man who worked at a child care center, and at age 19 worked as an exotic dancer at the new Century Theater and the Market Street Cinema in San Francisco, according to court records.

At age 28, she engaged in legal prostitution at the Kit Kat Guest Ranch and at the Sagebrush Ranch, both near Carson City, Nevada, the records stated. "It is through this lifestyle that Keila met Ravi," in August of 2001 in Los Gatos after being introduced by her female lover, Crystal Blake, court documents said.

Blake knew Kumra from her work at the Sagebrush Ranch, the documents noted. "Ravi enjoyed the company of women. Keila soon became one of the many women with whom Ravi spent time, both socially and intimately," the documents said.

It was common for Kumra to have gatherings of women at his 7,000-square-foot Monte Sereno mansion, 18630 Withey Road, and most of the women were current or former exotic dancers or escorts, according to the documents.

In October of 2001, Kumra and Goggins discussed having children together and he volunteered to be the father saying they would be "beautiful children," the records said.

"And because he was intellectually gifted, he said that their children would be 'smart.' Ravi also agreed to financially support their children. He discussed how their children would go to the best colleges and universities in the country," the records added.

One of the children was born in May of 2003 at Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital in Santa Cruz and he took videos of Goggins and the baby and "handed out cigars." He also paid for the girl's private schooling. The other child was born in December of 2005.

He also purchased a home for the girls. In July of 2011, he took all three of them on a family vacation to Disneyland and stayed at a beach house

The inventory and appraisal for Kumra's estate, who once owned Saratoga's Mountain Winery, has not been filed in probate court yet.

Phone calls and emails seeking comment on the criminal part of the case from the Kumra family have not been returned. An attorney in Sacramento, Jeffrey Galvin, was representing the Kumra estate, however, it's not clear whether he will continue to do so going forward, according to sources.

Crosby said Wednesday he couldn't answer questions about the case, other then to refer reporters to the court documents found in Santa Clara County Probate Court. The attorney has told the court that soon after Kumra divorced his wife for the sole purpose of hiding money, she sold the family business under the name of Western Cellular Management Inc. for $30 million.

The criminal component of the case lingers in court with five defendants in jail awaiting hearings, a brother and a sister, Katrina Fritz and Deangelo Austin, and Raven Dixon, Javier Garcia and Lukis Anderson. None of the defendants have entered pleas yet. Only Dixon pleaded not guilty on Feb. 14.

To read the trial brief and the judge's decision related to the Keila R. Goggins' family allowance petition, see attached PDF documents.

—For comprehensive coverage of the Raveesh 'Ravi' Kumra murder case, please see our topic page by clicking here.


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