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Father Pleads Not Guilty To Fatal Burning Of Sons

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Mar 17, 2008 4:49 pm US/Central

Father Pleads Not Guilty To Fatal Burning Of Sons

WHEATON, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: Kaushik Patel, 34, is charged with his setting his sons on fire.
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Click to enlarge 2 of 2: Vishv and Om Patel were doused with gasoline and severely burned inside their Glendale Heights home.
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A west suburban man pleaded not guilty Monday to a total of 12 felony charges in the deaths of his two sons, whom prosecutors allege he set on fire in their home last November.

Kaushik Patel, 34, was arraigned Monday on 10 counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery of a child, according to DuPage County State's Attorney's office spokesman Paul Darrah.

Patel, who is being held in the DuPage County Jail on $10 million bond, will next appear in court on May 13 before Judge Kathryn Creswell, Darrah said. The charges could send him to prison for life if he is convicted.

Patel is accused of setting fire to his two sons -- Om, 4, and Vishv, 7 -- in their home in Glendale Heights on Nov. 18, 2007. Patel and his sons suffered severe burns and were airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Om died Jan. 17 and Vishv died Feb. 19, both at Loyola, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said.

Prosecutors believe Patel doused his sons with gasoline in the bathtub of their home, set them on fire and then drove the critically injured boys to his brother's home in Hanover Park. Family members then contacted emergency services.

Before he died, Vishv was in critical condition in a drug-induced coma, according to a hospital spokesman.