FBI offers Rs 45 lakh reward for Indian man wanted in 2017 New Jersey double murder

FBI seeks Indian suspect in NJ

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced a reward of up to 50,000 dollars, about Rs 45 lakh, for information leading to the arrest of Indian national Nazeer Hameed, wanted for the 2017 murders of an Indian woman and her young son in New Jersey. Hameed, 38, is accused of killing 38-year-old tech professional Sasikala Narra and her six-year-old son, Anish, in their Maple Shade apartment.

The case dates back to the night of March 23, 2017, when Sasikala and Anish were found brutally stabbed inside their home in the Fox Meadow Apartments complex. Autopsies showed multiple stab wounds and signs that both victims fought desperately for their lives. The crime shocked the local community and the Indian diaspora in the United States.

For years the investigation struggled to identify a suspect conclusively. Investigators recovered a single droplet of blood at the scene that did not belong to either victim or to Sasikala’s husband, Hanumanth “Hanu” Narra. Attention gradually turned to Hameed, a colleague of Hanu Narra at an IT firm and a near neighbour in the same complex, after reports that he had been accused of stalking him.

A breakthrough came when US authorities obtained a court order compelling an Indian company linked to Hameed to send his work issued laptop to the United States. Forensic analysis in 2024 produced a DNA profile from the device that matched the unknown blood from the crime scene. In February 2025, prosecutors in Burlington County charged Hameed with two counts of first-degree murder and related weapons offences.

By then, Hameed had already left the United States. Officials say he returned to India roughly six months after the killings and has remained there. He is believed to have ties to Tamil Nadu and to be moving within India. The FBI has now added him to its wanted lists and published a detailed profile, urging anyone with information on his whereabouts to come forward.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Burlington County prosecutors have publicly urged India to cooperate with a US extradition request, calling the murders a heinous crime that shocked the state. Officials say the reward reflects their determination to secure justice for Sasikala and Anish, even eight years after the attack.