A man convicted of killing the father and sister of his former girlfriend in a fiery attack on the family's Southern California home was sentenced to death on Tuesday. Iftekhar Murtaza, 30, was sentenced for the murders of Jay Dhanak, 56, and his daughter Karishma, 20, in May 2007, the Orange County district attorney's office said. Murtaza was convicted in December 2013 of killing the pair in an attempt to reunite with his then-18-year-old ex-girlfriend Shayona Dhanak. She had ended their relationship citing her Hindu family's opposition to her dating a Muslim. To be executed: Iftekhar Murtaza, 30, was sentenced to death Tuesday for the May 21, 2007 murders of his ex-girlfriend's father and sister and the attempted murder of her mother . Authorities said Murtaza and a friend torched the family's Anaheim Hills home and kidnapped and killed Dhanak's father and sister, leaving their stabbed bodies burning in a park 2 miles from Dhanak's dorm room at the University of California, Irvine. Dhanak's mother, Leela, survived the attack. She was stabbed and left unconscious on a neighbor's lawn. Murtaza was interviewed by police several days later and arrested at a Phoenix airport with a ticket to his native Bangladesh and more than $11,000 in cash. Jurors recommended that Murtaza be sentenced to death for the crimes. Attack: Murtaza torched his ex-girlfriend's family's Orange County home after they broke-up, believing the murders of her family would reunited them . Religious differences: Murtaza dated Shayona Dhanak when she was 18 in 2007. She broke up with him when her Hindu parents allegedly told her they would stop paying her college tuition if she continued to date the Muslim man . Two of his friends were also sentenced to life in prison for the murders, but one of them, Vitaliy Krasnoperov, recently had his conviction overturned on appeal. Authorities said Krasnoperov hatched the plot to kill the Dhanaks with Murtaza and tried to help him hire a hit man. They said another friend, Charles Murphy Jr., helped Murtaza carry out the killings after Dhanak said she planned to go on a date with someone else. During the trial, Murtaza testified that he told many people he wanted to kill the Dhanaks because he was distraught over the breakup, but he said he didn't mean it literally. Didn't do it alone: Two of Murtaza's friends have been convicted in connection to the killings . Killer: Leela Dhanak testified how Iftekhar Murtaza, seen in this August photo, murdered her husband and elder daughter in a failed attempt to win over her younger daughter . Bloodbath: Autopsy reports showed Jayprakash Dhanak (left) suffered 29 stab wounds to his body, while a pathologist testified that Karishma Dhanak (right) was alive when her throat was slit and her body set alight .
Iftekhar Murtaza, 29, was convicted a year ago of killing his ex-girlfriend's family in a fiery attack on the family home in 2007 . On Tuesday he was sentenced to death in Orange County . Found guilty of stabbing Jaypraykash Dhanak, 56, slitting the throat of his 20-year-old daughter, Karishma, and setting their bodies on fire . Wife Leela Dhanak was stabbed in the stomach and had her throat slashed, but miraculously survived . Murtaza concocted the murder plot with two friends after Dhanka's youngest daughter, Shayona, broke up with him over religious differences . Murtaza married a 20-year-old suspected murderess in jail in 2011 after exchanging letters with her for five months .