Nazeer Hameed

By Sam Barron From Daily Voice

A 38-year-old Indian man has been identified as a suspect of a Maple Shade 2017 double homicide, authorities announced Tuesday, Nov. 18.

Nazeer Hameed, who now lives in India but at the time lived in the same apartment complex as the victims, is accused of murdering Sasikala Narra and her 6-year-old son Anish Narra, at their Hamilton Road home on March 23, 2017, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Maple Shade Police Chief Christopher J. Fletcher said.

Sasikala's husband, who apparently worked with Hameed at Cognizant Technology Solutions in Teaneck, found her and her son in a pool of blood on a bed inside the apartment, the outlet said. The Narras had been stabbed multiple times in the neck, with Anish nearly decapitated, investigators said.

Investigators believe Hameed was stalking the husband and father prior to the murders. Blood collected at the crime scene matched a man of Central Asian ancestry, prosecutors said. Hameed returned to India six months after the murders and investigators said they were continuously stymied for years in their attempts to get his DNA sample.

Sasikala Narra and her son, Anish.

Sasikala Narra and her son, Anish.

Burlington County Prosecutor's Office

In October 2020, the Central Bureau of Investigation in India advised the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Nazeer Hameed refused to provide a DNA sample. In March 2023, a Mutual Legal Assistance request was made to the government of India, asking that Hameed’s DNA be collected via a court order. The United States Department of Justice received acknowledgment from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs that they had received the request, but it was never fulfilled, authorities said.

Prosecutors said that an "inflammatory podcast" announced the case had become stagnant and that detectives were "maligned as unsympathetic" to the victims because of their Indian origin, prosecutors said.

However, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Detectives working on this case were undeterred by initial setbacks and utilized multiple approaches to move the investigation forward. 

Ultimately, it was through a request from the Prosecutor’s Office to Hameed's employer that a DNA sample was finally obtained connecting him to the slayings.

After being served with a subpoena, Cognizant cooperated and provided investigators with Hameed's company-issued laptop. After arriving in the United States at a Cognizant office, the laptop was obtained by law enforcement officials, and chain of custody procedures for collecting evidence were employed as it was transported to the New Jersey State Police DNA Laboratory in Hamilton, Mercer County.

A search warrant seeking authorization for forensic processing of the laptop was granted by a Superior Court judge in Burlington County. An examination of the laptop’s keyboard generated a DNA profile that was determined to be consistent with the DNA from the unknown blood droplet at the murder scene.

The motive for the killings has not been definitively established. In New Jersey, prosecutors are not required to prove a motive to convict a defendant of a crime.

The next step will be to bring Hameed back to the United States to face prosecution. He's charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.