Nikitha Godishala
Hyderabad: An accused in the alleged murder of a city-based woman in the US was traced in Agra, police said on Thursday, August 27.
Arjun Sharma (26), the suspect in the murder of Nikitha Godishala (27), was tracked down to a flat in Agra by a team of Lalaguda Police Station here during the investigation of a cheating case registered based on a complaint lodged by the woman’s father Anand Godishala.
Nikitha, of Ellicott City in America was reported missing on January 2. Howard County police had said that she was found dead with stab wounds in the Columbia, Maryland apartment of her ex-roommate, Arjun Sharma.
The US police had obtained a warrant for Sharma’s arrest on first and second-degree murder charges, alleging that he killed her and fled to India.
The family was officially informed by authorities on January 4 at approximately 6 AM IST that Nikitha had sustained multiple stab wounds, and that her death is believed to have occurred around 7 PM on December 31, 2025.
The cheating case was registered against Sharma in April following a complaint that he had cheated the woman after taking money from her and did not return it, a Hyderabad police official said.
“During the investigation, after getting certain clues, a police team was sent to Agra which caught the accused in a flat and a notice was issued to him (in connection with the cheating case). Since a case was already registered against him in the US and an NBW was pending, the central authorities were informed,” the official said.
Sharma was then produced before the Patiala House Court in New Delhi by the central agencies, which remanded him on August 25 in connection with the murder case, the official further said.
Nikitha, elder daughter of Anand, had been living in the US
for the last four years and was working as a Data and Strategy Analyst there.Her family, which stays in the city, in a statement welcomed the custody of Sharma in Delhi as an important breakthrough.
According to information communicated to the family and subsequent court proceedings, Sharma was arrested following the execution of non-bailable warrants and was taken into custody by a Delhi court, it said.
According to her parents, Sharma lost his employment around August–September 2025 and subsequently borrowed money from Nikitha and members of her family. They say financial disputes involving money allegedly owed to Nikitha existed before her death and that Sharma also had financial dealings with others in the United States, the statement added.
This post was last modified on August 27, 2026 11:35 pm