US names prime suspect in 2016 killings of AP native Sasikala Narra and her son in New Jersey

United States: Almost eight years after the brutal murders of Andhra Pradesh native Sasikala Narra and her six-year-old son Anish Sai in New Jersey, US authorities have finally identified the prime suspect in the case.

Indian man Nazeer Hameed, a colleague of Sasikala Narra’s husband at a New Jersey-based company, is the prime suspect. He lived within walking distance of the victims’ home.

The 2017 case

Sasikala and her husband, Narra Hanu, were living in Maple Shade, New Jersey, when the incident occurred on March 23, 2017. Hanu returned home from work that evening to find his wife and child lying in a pool of blood inside their apartment.

They had been stabbed multiple times, and later, police said their defensive wounds showed they both tried to fight back. A homicide investigation was launched.

The couple – both from Andhra Pradesh – worked in IT fields and had been living in the US for the last 12 years before the murders happened.

In the initial days of the probe, the victims’ relatives accused Hanumantha Rao of committing the murders, alleging that he was involved in an extramarital affair with a woman from Kerala. Rao was detained and questioned; however, forensic tests ruled him out after DNA found at the crime scene did not match his.

During the investigation, authorities learned that Rao had workplace disagreements with a colleague, Hamid, who became a person of interest. Hamid had reportedly returned to India six months after the murders. US investigators made multiple attempts to obtain his DNA sample through Indian authorities, but he repeatedly refused.

Laptop helped to crack the case

In 2024, a US court issued an order to Cognizant — Hameed’s employer at the time — instructing the company to send his office-issued laptop to the US so investigators could attempt to extract DNA. Forensic experts were able to recover usable DNA from the device, and the profile matched samples found at the crime scene.

Hameed fled to India after the murder. He recent DNA sample taken from his company-issued laptop matched with a blood sample from the crime scene. Following this, authorities have filed charges against a suspect for murder and related offences and are seeking his extradition back to America, according to US media reports.

Patrick Thornton, Burlington County Prosecutor's Office chief of investigations, told the media that Hameed was working in the US on a visa when the incident occurred. He returned to India and has remained here since then.

US police recently released a statement officially naming Hamid as the suspect and have appealed to the public for information about his whereabouts. Since he is currently believed to be in India, US authorities have requested the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to initiate extradition proceedings.

The exact motive behind the killings remains unclear, and further investigation is underway.

But, based on the circumstances, police said that he held a personal vendetta against Hanu Narra.