A New Jersey father got home from work in 2017 to discover his wife and 6-year-old son had been savagely stabbed to death inside their Maple Shade apartment, and authorities have now identified a suspect after an eight-year investigation.
Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, were discovered in their Hamilton Road residence on March 23, 2017. Her husband, Hanumanth “Hanu” Narra, discovered the scene when he arrived home from work, according to a news statement by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office (BCPO).
An examination revealed that both victims died from several stab wounds, with Anish practically beheaded; both victims also had defensive wounds, according to the report.
Maple Shade Police Chief Christopher Fletcher later called the scene “unimaginable.”
“There was carnage here,” he stated, according to the release. “A mother and a young child who spent their last moments fighting for their lives.”
Investigators confirmed that a little blood droplet discovered at the murder site did not belong to either victim but rather to a person of Central Asian heritage. The blood was eventually found to be the same kind as 38-year-old Nazeer Hameed, who resided in the same apartment complex as the Narras and worked for the same business, Cognizant Technology Solutions, according to the announcement.
Hameed went to India six months after the killings, where he remains, according to the prosecutor’s office.
As the inquiry progressed, detectives identified him as a person of interest after discovering he was following Hanu Narra.
Investigators spent years attempting to collect a DNA sample from Hameed, according to the announcement. Indian officials later informed US authorities that Hameed declined to give one in October 2020. A mutual legal help request submitted in 2023, acknowledged by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, was never fulfilled.
Following Cognizant’s compliance with a demand, detectives were able to extract Hameed’s DNA from a company-issued laptop, according to the prosecutor. A forensic investigation of the keyboard revealed a DNA profile matching the unknown blood droplet found at the site.
“This development provided strong physical evidence that confirmed what our investigation had already determined,” BCPO Lt. Brian Cunningham explained. “Nazeer Hameed went to the Narra apartment and brutally murdered Sasikala and her son, Anish.”
Some Maple Shade residents were relieved when Hameed was charged. “A lot of us here live by ourselves, and you want to feel safe,” an elderly neighbor who lived near the Narras’ house at the time told the Burlington County Times.
Eric Still, another resident, told the publication that Hameed “should be brought back here for justice in America.”
Sasikala’s family attorney, Donald Browne, noted that the killings devastated the family. “It was shocking more than anything else,” Browne told 6 ABC Philadelphia. “A spectacular family — mother, father and child.”
The prosecutor’s office stated that the motivation has not been definitively proved; nonetheless, in the state of New Jersey, demonstrating a motive is not required to obtain a murder conviction.
“He committed this crime, and there is no doubt in our minds that he is responsible,” said BCPO Chief of Investigations Patrick J. Thornton, according to the release. “We hope that he will be extradited. I can’t believe the powers that be in India want to protect a man who nearly decapitated a 6-year-old child after murdering his mother in front of him.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, New Jersey authorities are now working with the United States Departments of Justice and State to pursue Hameed’s extradition.
