The bad blood between him and his research guide at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), William Klug, led Indian PhD student Mainak Sarkar to shoot him dead, police have said.

AFP

Sarkar, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, had shot dead his professor and a woman at her apartment on Wednesday before killing himself.

The 38-year-old PhD student was doing his research under Klug, who was only a year older than Sarkar, and was an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

AFP

Their academic relationship which began on a warm note turned sour recently.

On his blog, Sarker had accused Klug of stealing his code and favoring another student.

"Your enemy is your enemy. But your friend can do a lot more harm. Be careful about whom you trust. Stay away from this sick guy."

On March 10, in another blog, Sarkar further wrote...

"William Klug, UCLA professor is not the kind of person when you think of a professor. He is a very sick person. I urge every new student coming to UCLA to stay away from this guy."

However Klug's friends rejected the claims and said it was "absolutely untrue" and "psychotic."

AFP

According to some reports the Indian student had plans to kill another professor from the same department, but he was away from the campus at the time when Sarkar reached the campus armed with two 9 mm pistols and multiple ammunition clips.

AFP

Even though officials have not revealed the identity of the woman Sarkar shot dead, she is rumored to be Ashley Erin Hasti, an American woman whom he married in 2011. The duo were reportedly living separately.