Authorities say they have finally identified the man responsible for a brutal 2017 double murder in Maple Shade, NJ. The heinous act left behind what many first responders described as one of the most disturbing crime scenes in recent memory.
Inside a Maple Shade apartment, a mother, Sasikala Narra, and her 6-year-old son, Anish, were found stabbed to death in March 2017. Signs of a struggle were clear but leads were not. A single drop of blood that didn’t match the family eventually proved critical.
Lab work showed it came from someone of Central Asian ancestry and attention shifted toward a former New Jersey tech worker named Nazeer Hameed, who lived nearby, worked with the husband and had been watching him for reasons still unknown. The two worked together at Cognizant Technology Solutions in Teaneck.
Hameed later returned to India in September 2017, six months after the murder took place. He is being charged with murder and weapons offenses but remains overseas as federal officials work to bring him back.
Attempts to obtain his DNA stalled for years. In 2023, a Mutual Legal Assistance request was sent to the Indian government requesting DNA samples from Hameed. The request was never fulfilled.
However, investigators reached a turning point when they discovered Hameed still worked for Cognizant, now in Chennai, India. They secured his company-issued laptop via subpoena in September 2024. Forensic analysts extracted a usable DNA sample from the device, which matched the blood samples taken from the crime scene.
A motive still remains unclear. Detectives suspect tension at work but they still don’t know why the violence reached the family. The murder is considered deliberate and intentional by authorities.
Now, with a suspect named, the focus turns to extradition. The U.S. has a treaty with India for such cases but cooperation is still never guaranteed. Authorities are urging swift action be taken to bring Hameed back to face charges.
Eight years later the Maple Shade community is still mourning the brutal murder of two of its beloved members. Identifying the culprit marks the most significant movement in the case since 2017 but investigators insist the case never went cold. Instead, they point to a slowly building mountain of evidence that they were eventually able to use with precision to name Hameed.
While the U.S. awaits a hopeful extradition, Cognizant confirmed that Hameed has been fired from his position.
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.