Indian-American, Lover Plot Murder of ex-Wife, Get Caught as 'Hitman' Turns Out to Be Undercover Agent

Agencies
February 7, 2019

Washington, Feb 7: Indian American Narsan Lingala and his girlfriend Sandya Reddy have been charged with trying to hire a hitman to kill the former's estranged wife.

Lingala, 55, who has been charged by criminal complaint with one count of murder-for-hire was produced before US Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in Newark federal court and was held without bail.

His ex-girlfriend, Reddy, 52, appeared in the court on the same charge and was also detained. According to the complaint, in May 2018, Lingala was in a holding cell at the Middlesex County Superior Courthouse as he awaited a court hearing.

While there, he asked another inmate if he knew anyone who could kill his estranged wife. The inmate responded that he knew such a person.

In June 2018, at the direction of law enforcement, the inmate introduced Lingala to an undercover agent posing as a hitman. Over subsequent weeks, Lingala and the undercover cop spoke on the phone and planned to meet in person the next time that Lingala travelled from Indiana to New Jersey.

On August 18, 2018, Lingala and the undercover police officer agreed to meet outside a New Jersey shopping mall. Later that day, Lingala and his then-girlfriend, Reddy, arrived outside the mall and approached the cop.

Lingala introduced Reddy and stated that she understood what was going on. The trio then entered the undercover cop's car.

They proceeded to have a conversation that was video recorded. The cop asked Lingala to confirm what he wanted him to do and the accused said, "I want that woman to be out of my life... totally. Never again. She never comes back."

During the conversation, the undercover cop asked, "You want me to take care of her?" to which Lingala responded, "Yeah." The undercover cop stated, "She's done, I'm going to kill her. End of story." Lingala responded, "Yeah. End of story."

During the conversation, Lingala gave the cop information about the intended victim including his ex-wife's full name, home address, age, and home phone number. He also described the entrances to and layout of her home; the name of the company where she worked; and the timing and details of her work commute.

Lingala showed the undercover officer photos of the exterior and interior of his ex-wife's home. Reddy also provided the him information about the intended victim. The trio also discussed the price and the undercover cop demanded between USD 5,000 and USD 10,000, depending on the job's complexity.

Lingala agreed and asked if he could pay after the job was done. The cop, however, said he would need a down payment. The couple discussed the issue and then Lingala asked the cop, "Can I give you a thousand down payment?" to which the undercover cop agreed.

Lingala later stated, "I want that money to go into your pocket." Lingala informed the undercover officer that making the down payment would take about two weeks. After the meeting, authorities arrested Lingala and Reddy. The murder-for-hire charge is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 12,2020

The West Bengal government has suspended two women teachers in East Burdwan district on the charge of teaching pre-primary students from an English alphabet book consisting of a portion derogatory to the people with a dark complexion.

While presenting the alphabets with corresponding words and images, the book says U is for "Ugly". The illustration printed beside the letter is that of a boy with a dark complexion.

"The book is not part of the textbooks referred by the education department. It was introduced by the school itself. We have zero-tolerance for acts which instil prejudices into the minds of students," Education Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters here on Thursday.

He said the two teachers of a local municipality-run school have been placed under suspension with immediate effect based on a preliminary investigation and stricter action would be taken against them later.

Though the school is now closed because of the lockdown, the matter came to light when the father of a student of the school was teaching him with the help of that book. He informed other parents and the education department was apprised of the issue, sources said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: The CBI has booked 17 individuals and companies, including three Mumbai-based senior Customs officials, for allegedly being part of a money laundering racket using over-invoiced import of diamonds worth more than Rs 156 crore, official said on Tuesday.

The case was referred to the CBI after a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence probe found alleged involvement of Customs officials in the conspiracy, they said.

The DRI probe had alleged that Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Kadel had imported rough diamonds from Switzerland to Hong Kong in the name of his four companies.

Kadel, who had business interests in India, had exported some of these diamonds to India through 14 consignments in the name of two companies Antique Exim Pvt Ltd and Tanman Jewels showing over-invoiced value of Rs 156.28 crore.

The DRI had found during revaluation that actual value of the consignment was Rs 1.03 crore instead of falsely declared value of Rs 156.28 crore, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that Kadel used Import Export Codes (IECs) of Antique Exim Private Ltd and Tanman Jewels through his aide Atul Paldecha for siphoning off the money outside India through import of over-valued diamonds, the officials said.

Rough diamonds were imported at "highly exaggerated value" to siphon off excess foreign exchange overseas to cover the differential cost of other imports and park money abroad for unlawful activities.

It is alleged that the then Commissioner APSC Mumbai, Vinay Brij Singh, influenced subordinate officers to give favourable report, they said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.