Source NDTV
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON — A nine-month investigation into the death of a 27-year-old woman inside a Washington state apartment has culminated in the arrest of her husband, a 30-year-old software development engineer. Authorities have charged the suspect with first-degree murder, alleging that he strangled his newly married wife, staged the crime scene, and sent a photograph of her body to a romantic partner in India.
The accused, Avinash Narne, originally from Telangana, India, is currently being held in custody on a $5 million bail. Under Washington state law, a conviction for first-degree murder carries a potential sentence of life imprisonment.
The Staged Emergency
The case dates back to the night of October 27, 2025, when Bellevue Police received an emergency call from Narne. He claimed that his wife, Raajitha Sabbineni, had locked herself inside their apartment bathroom and was completely unresponsive.
Upon arriving at the scene, responding officers forced entry into the bathroom and discovered Sabbineni lying on the floor. Emergency personnel pronounced her dead at the scene. The couple had been married for less than six months and had relocated to the United States just a few months prior.
Narne initially told detectives that he had briefly stepped out of the apartment to run errands, returning roughly 40 minutes later to find the bathroom locked. He suggested to officials that his wife had been feeling unwell and may have collapsed due to medical complications.
However, a subsequent post-mortem examination performed by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office completely upended his narrative. The autopsy concluded that Sabbineni’s death was caused by asphyxia due to strangulation, and the case was officially ruled a homicide.
Security Logs and Poison Searches
Detectives began piecing together a timeline using a variety of digital forensic techniques. Data pulled from the apartment’s smart-lock and front-door security systems showed that while Narne had briefly left the unit, no other individual entered or exited the residence during that period. This evidence effectively eliminated the possibility of an outside intruder.
Furthermore, a forensic review of the suspect’s electronic devices revealed internet search histories related to various poisons. This matched a pattern of concerning text messages recovered from the victim’s phone.
In the weeks leading up to her death, Sabbineni had repeatedly messaged her husband complaining that the drinks he prepared for her tasted unusually bitter. On the day she was killed, she sent a text message to Narne stating that a smoothie he had made for her tasted like “medicine” and “cough syrup.”
A Secret Relationship Uncovered
As prosecutors look toward a motive, court documents allege that Narne was maintaining a long-term “secret relationship” with another woman living in India. The relationship began before his arranged marriage to Sabbineni, continued after the wedding, and investigators note that the woman had even attended the couple’s marriage ceremony in June 2025.
Phone records revealed that Narne spoke with this woman at least four times on the day of the murder—including during the exact timeframe he claimed he was frantically trying to gain access to the locked bathroom.
During subsequent interrogation, investigators confronted Narne about deleted communications. According to the charging documents, the tech worker admitted to sending a photograph of his wife’s body to his girlfriend in India the day after the killing took place.
Narne appeared in court where he entered a plea of not guilty. The case will now proceed to trial in King County, where prosecutors bear the burden of proving premeditation beyond a reasonable doubt.
