A 45-year-old Indian American, who lost his hight-profile job to the global financial meltdown, has killed his wife, mother-in-law and three children before taking his own life, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Karthik Rajaram, aged 45, shot the five members of his family dead and committed suicide in the gated community of Porter Ranch in the northwest San Fernando Valley, the report quoted police as saying.

'We believe this to be a murder-suicide,' a DPA report quoted Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Moore as saying. 'It appears (the gunman) killed his family and then took his own life.'

The bodies of the man's 39-year-old wife Subasri, 70-year-old mother-in-law Indra Ramaseshan, and three sons - Krishna, 19, a sophomore at UCLA majoring in business economics; Ganesha, 12; and Arjuna, 7 - were found inside the home's bedrooms.

Rajaram was found dead with the gun in his hand.

The Los Angeles Times said Rajaram once made more than $1.2 million in a London-based venture fund but had lost his job and he also lost on the stock market.

He bought a gun Sep 16, wrote two suicide notes and a last will and testament, and sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, he took the extreme step, according to the Times report.

'This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit,' said Moore.

'It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times.'

In a letter addressed to police, Rajaram blamed his actions on economic hardships.

A second letter, titled 'personal and confidential', was addressed to family friends and a third contained a last will and testament, Moore said.

Rajaram, who held an MBA from UCLA, was described as a hard-driving businessman who was involved in several financial ventures.

A 2001 article in The Daily Telegraph of London, under the headline 'Bust, but big bucks for the big boys', called Rajaram a 'winner' in a deal for NanoUniverse, a Los Angeles- and London-based venture fund taken public on the London Stock Exchange, according to the Times.