This publication chose to wait until the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department released his identification and confirmed the information it had received from various trustworthy sources.
On Saturday, at about 6 p.m., detectives working the case released the victim's identity, Raveesh "Ravi" Kumar Kumra, 66, the former owner of Saratoga's historic The Mountain Winery on Pierce Road. They also released a suspect sketch of one of the possible assailants.
Google searches under that name yielded much information about Kumra and his life. Charitystat.com lists a Robert Hanfling as the contact for Global Oneness Foundation, with its address listed at 18630 Withey Road, the mansion's address where the killing took place.
The Watchdog.net website confirms Charitystat's listing as the same information for the foundation. It's also listed as a nonprofit group on the nonprofitzone.net site.
What is the so-called Oneness Movement?
It then goes on to state that the year 2012 is "the year of the awakening" to witness "the fulfillment of Sri Amma Bhagavan's vision. Divine grace has increased multi folds. Thousands of people are experiencing the presence and are blessed with Awakening. At the same time millions are moving into Awakened states as the phenomenon unfolds. Here are the figures of the people who are Awakened and in Awakened states across the planet."
There also seems to be a Foundation for World Awakening that was registered as being headquartered in Monte sereno. And nonprofitfacts.com gives a Monte Sereno P.O. box as its location, too.
- Western Cellular Management, Inc.
- San Francisco Ivds, Inc.
- South Bay Ivds, Inc.
- Slo Cellular, Inc.
- Foundation for World Awakening, California Inc.
- Napa Ivds, Inc.
- Global Oneness Foundation
- Light Up Malawi Inc.
- Tesla Capital LLC
- Living In Awareness LLC
- Western Cellular Management Inc
- Oneness Movement
- Foundation for World Awakening, California Inc.
- Slo Cellular, Inc.
Some of these entities are found as being active on the California Secretary of State's business search database, such as Western Cellular Management Inc, which is registered to Kumra's name.
Corporationwiki.com lists the following people living at the address:
- Raveesh K. Kumra
- Harinder Kumra
- Rajesh Kumra
- Victoria Simone Swan
- Harinder Rani Kumra
- Raveesh K. Kumra
- Victoria S. Swan
- Harinder Humra
Harinder Kumra is the deceased's wife, the woman who called 911 to report her husband lying on the floor after the home had been ransacked by an unknown number of assailants, police say.
Community Reaction
A Mountain Winery employee, who declined comment, said Kumra sold The Mountain Winery to current owner William Hirschman and his three other co-owners in March of 1999.
Hirschman said the winery extended its condolences to Kumra's family and declined to answer other questions about the case.
Those who knew him at the winery said he was an India-born multi-millionaire who made his fortune through hard work and a good work ethic. They described him as an accomplished businessman, a venture capitalist who owned the historic Saratoga property for about four years.
Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page said although he hadn't met Kumra personally, he was still saddened by the tragedy.
"What concerns me the most is the way it [the homicide] presumably happened," he said. "Breaking into a home at 1:30 a.m. ... It gives us all pause to think about our current situation and how safe we are and whether we're protected and how safe we are in our homes."
Page added that as with the death of anyone in our community, "It's always a sad thing. My heart goes out to his family."
An email to Kumra's family was not immediately returned.
