US Murder Fugitive Arjun Sharma Arrested in Agra by Telangana Police

A 27-year-old fugitive software engineer wanted by authorities in the United States for the alleged murder of his former girlfriend in Maryland was arrested from Agra by a Telangana Police team following an investigation initiated in Secunderabad.

The accused, Arjun Sharma, was produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Animesh Bhaskar Mani Tripathi at Delhi's Patiala House court on Thursday. The court ordered that Sharma, a native of Chennai, be taken into custody as proceedings on a US extradition request move forward under the India-US Extradition Treaty.

Sharma was apprehended on August 24 from the Shankar Green Residential Society in the Ekta police station limits of Agra, where he had been hiding. The Telangana Police operation was conducted with assistance from Agra police, led by Ekta station house officer Saurabh Singh, following an Interpol Red Corner Notice.

The arrest followed an investigation launched by the Lalaguda police in Secunderabad after the victim's father, Anand Godishala, filed a complaint. Secunderabad Deputy Commissioner of Police Rakshita Krishna Murthy said investigators traced Sharma's location to Agra while pursuing the cheating case registered by the family in April 2026.

According to the FIR registered at Lalaguda police station, Sharma and his mother face charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and destruction of evidence.

The victim, 27-year-old Nikitha Godishala, had met Sharma while pursuing master's degrees in the US. The two lived with friends in Maryland between 2022 and 2024 before starting their respective jobs. Sharma lost his employment around August or September 2025, after which he and his mother allegedly borrowed money from Godishala and her family.

According to investigators, Sharma persuaded Godishala to visit his Maryland apartment on December 31, 2025, on the pretext of returning USD 4,000. He allegedly stabbed her to death inside the apartment. He then filed a misleading missing-person report with US police on January 1, siphoned between USD 4,000 and USD 5,000 from her credit card, and fled to India on January 2.

US police discovered Godishala's body in the apartment on January 3, subsequently charging Sharma with murder and assault. Extradition proceedings in the Delhi court are currently being handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation.