Help sought in solving IMF economist's shooting

Almost a month after a high-ranking economist with the International Monetary Fund was shot in his Bethesda garage, Montgomery County police appear to know precious little about the crime.

They don't think the masked assailant was out to rob Ashoka Mody, who survived the shooting. Nor do they have indications that the attack was linked to Mody's job. Evidence is so limited that police are not sure whether the shooter was a man or a woman.

Hoping for help from the public, police and the victim's wife appealed Friday for anyone with information to step forward. A crime-solvers group also announced that its reward for information leading to the shooter's arrest has jumped to as much as $36,000, thanks to a $35,000 anonymous donation.

"My husband is a very hardworking family man," Jyothsna Mody said. "No one can understand why anything like this could possibly have happened to him."

Mody is in a medical facility, and police said they are hopeful that he will make a good recovery.

On Oct. 8, after a full day's work at the IMF, where he is an assistant director of the European Department, Mody pulled his minivan up to his home on Millwood Road. He opened the garage door and pulled inside.

"This happened pretty quick for him, and it was a surprise," Capt. Paul Starks, a police spokesman, said Friday. "It was dark. He pulled into his garage, and then he is shot."

Detectives do not know whether the shooter was waiting in the garage or slipped in after the door opened, Starks said. Police said the shooter fired through a gap in the door, not through glass.

From inside the house, Jyothsna Mody heard gunshots. She called police.

"Please, I appeal to all of you to come forward with any tips, any tips whatsoever, that you can possibly remember and recall to help our detectives and police in their valiant efforts to nail down the assailant," she said Friday. "This is really important, because this is my home. It's our home. This is my community, and we all want to be safe."

Friends of Mody's described him Friday as a talented economist, willing to be direct with policymakers, who hangs New Yorker cartoons on his office door and goes on yoga retreats.

"A very gentle soul," said Ajai Chopra, a deputy director of the IMF's European Department. "He's the sort of person who is very willing to say unpopular things, but he says these unpopular things in a very mellow way that doesn't ruffle feathers. That makes him more effective. It's always backed up by very good arguments. It's a very gentle approach."