2nd body at O.C. fire site is identified

One of the badly burned bodies found this week in an Irvine park was identified Wednesday as Jayprakash “Jay” Dhanak, whose daughter’s body was discovered next to his and whose wife was beaten unconscious at their Anaheim Hills home before it was set on fire.

Officials would not specify how Dhanak, 56, and his 20-year-old daughter, Karishma, were killed. Dhanak’s wife, Leela, 53, remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Police released little new information that could explain why the family was targeted in a string of crimes that began late Monday night.

Leela Dhanak was found unconscious in a neighbor’s yard, the family’s house having been set ablaze. Authorities discovered Karishma and Jay Dhanak’s bodies Tuesday near Concordia University in Irvine when they responded to a small brush fire. Karishma Dhanak was identified through fingerprints several hours later.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez declined to say how Jay Dhanak was identified but said authorities were double-checking their findings against dental records. Autopsies were conducted Wednesday. Jay Dhanak’s body showed evidence of trauma, Martinez said, but he would not provide details.

The younger daughter, Shayona Dhanak, an 18-year-old UC Irvine student, did not live at the Anaheim Hills home and was unharmed.

Police are sifting through a complex case with two crime scenes, three victims and few witnesses, with a five-hour gap between the fires.

Further complicating matters, evidence was destroyed when the Dhanaks’ home was charred. And authorities are looking for at least two suspects, but witness accounts vary so widely that police have yet to release official descriptions.

Police are also checking into leads outside Orange County, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Tim Schmidt.

“We don’t know if this was a random act, a family act, a business-related act or something that someone did for financial gain,” he said.

They are taking into consideration Jay Dhanak’s criminal past.

In 2002, Dhanak pleaded guilty to bilking the U.S. Postal Service while he was the operations manager for a direct-mail company, Master-Sort Inc. Postal inspectors said the case represented about $7.9 million in losses. Charges against Leela Dhanak, who served at one point as president of the company, were dropped.

Jay Dhanak was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison in connection with a mail-fraud scheme. He was released in November 2005. In addition, the company was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution, and Jay Dhanak $2.5 million.

The direct-mail company had been bought in January 1999 by Ancora Capital & Management Group LLC, a firm formed to acquire companies in the mail-sorting business. Leela Dhanak is listed as president.

This year, Leela Dhanak created a firm, North America Gaming LLC, that listed the family’s Anaheim Hills address and a Los Angeles address as contacts. Efforts to reach a business representative were unsuccessful.

Neighbors and friends have described the Dhanaks as quiet and heavily involved with their Hindu temple in Whittier.

“If I was not in the faith, I would probably be sitting in a bar, drinking beer, watching TV, wasting my life,” Leela Dhanak told The Times in 2000 in an article about the temple. “Instead, I learned to control my desires through my guru. He gives me food for the soul.”

Elodia Camalich, a woman who worked at Master-Sort, told the Associated Press that Leela Dhanak “always told me they were struggling financially.” If true, that was not outwardly apparent, neighbors said.

The couple’s daughters were sociable and belonged to numerous activities at school. Karishma Dhanak’s speech and debate team coach at Orange Coast College, Chris DeSurra, called the honors student “one of the most beautiful, talented women we’ve ever worked with here.”

Her specialty was dramatic interpretation, a category in which she won state and regional competitions. Recently, however, Karishma Dhanak left the debate team to concentrate on a career as a makeup artist. She had worked for MAC cosmetics, DeSurra said.

At the Dhanaks’ home Wednesday night, yellow tulips and purple daisies were scattered near a temporary green barrier officials had put up. On a poster, one young woman recalled Karishma Dhanak’s big earrings and white platform shoes and “putting crazy color extensions in your hair, having long dinners at Cheesecake Factory and summers in Carlsbad.”

Friends have created a Facebook.com page -- “R.I.P. Karishma Dhanak. U will be missed” -- in which she was described as a good actress and dancer, outspoken and funny, and “the ultimate diva.” One friend who attended UC Irvine wrote:

“You have taught me so many things in my life -- to live it up every moment, always look good cuz you don’t know whos looking and to always mosturize so we don’t wrinkle when we get older! ... I know it was your dream to go to Spain, and just because it didn’t happen in this lifetime doesn’t mean its not going to happen in the next life.”

ashley.powers@latimes.com

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Christine Hanley, Dave McKibben, David Reyes and Yvonne Villarreal.