Murder for Hire: Indiana Businessman Found Guilty of Conspiring to Kill his Estranged Wife

Indian American businessman, Narsan Lingala, 57, of Noblesville, Indiana, was found guilty on several charges of conspiring to hire a hitman to kill his estranged wife, Saroja Alkanti. Lingala, Lingala, who earlier lived in Woodbridge and Edison in New Jersey, was convicted on one count each of conspiring to commit murder for hire and traveling interstate or using interstate facilities with intent that a murder for hire be committed and two counts of attempting to tamper with a witness, according to the news release from U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

Lingala appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer in federal court and was held without bail. His ex-girlfriend, Sandya Reddy, 52, pleaded guilty in April 2019 to her role in the scheme and was sentenced on Aug. 10, 2020, to 63 months in prison.

The jury deliberated for three hours before returning the guilty verdicts following an eight-day trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court.

Citing the federal complaint and FBI Agent Michael Scimeca, the DOJ press release said Lingala was in a holding cell at the Middlesex County Courthouse in May 2018 awaiting a court hearing when he asked another inmate if he knew anyone who could kill his estranged wife. The inmate indicated he knew a person. New reports say it is unclear why Lingala was first arrested.

The following month at the direction of law enforcement, the inmate introduced Lingala to an undercover officer posing as hitman “Manny.” Over several weeks Lingala and the alleged hitman spoke on the telephone and planned to meet in person when Lingala traveled from Indiana to New Jersey, the press release stated. 

Lingala and the alleged hitman agreed to meet in person on Aug. 18, 2018 outside a New Jersey shopping mall. When Lingala and Reddy arrived outside the mall they approached the undercover hitman, and the three entered the hitman’s vehicle, tripped out with hidden cameras. They had a conversation that was video recorded, according to the news release. The undercover hitman asked Lingala to confirm what he wanted him to do. “I want that woman to be out of my life … totally. Never again. She never comes back,” Lingala said, according to the press release.

The press release added that during the conversation, Lingala gave the undercover hitman information about Alkanti, including her 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 hit man photos of the exterior and interior of his ex-wife’s home.

Reddy also provided the undercover hitman information on Alkanti. The three also discussed the price that the undercover hitman would be paid. 

The hitman said the job would cost between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the complexity. Lingala allegedly agreed and asked if he could pay after the job was done, but the hitman requested a down payment, the news release states. Lingala and Reddy discussed the issue, before Lingala asked if he could pay $1,000 as a down payment. The hitman agreed. Lingala said making the down payment would take about two weeks. Lingala and Reddy were arrested in Woodbridge after the meeting, according to the news release. Reddy confessed to agents that she knew of the plot. Scimeca wrote that Lingala learned through discovery what Reddy had confessed to, and he tried to urge her in a letter to not take a plea deal.

Lingala and Alkanti, a North Brunswick resident, married in December 1995, had two children before Lingala filed for divorce in May 2011. According to court documents, Lingala had spent years trying to fight his divorce proceedings, including the amount of child support for his two children, and alimony. The accused man allegedly had a history of domestic violence incidents, and was served with a restraining order during the course of his marriage.

Lingala had — during divorce proceedings in 2012 — agreed to pay weekly child support of $358, on calculations of his annual income at $162,000. Alkanti’s income was $47,000. But during a 2017 hearing on the divorce case, Lingala said his income had been computed incorrectly, and the valuation of his business, LMN Solutions, of which he is the sole owner, was calculated incorrectly and much higher than its actual worth. He argued that he should pay lower amounts of child support and alimony.

Lingala further alleged as gleaned from court documents that he entered into the 2012 divorce agreement under duress because he was handcuffed and faced a hostile judge. He did not win in the proceedings.

The murder-for-hire charges are each punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison; the witness tampering charges are punishable by a maximum of 20 years. And all of the charges are also punishable by a maximum fine of $250,000.

In a 2020 study, conducted by the Asian Pacific Institute on Domestic Violence in Asian & Pacific Islander Homes, 38 percent of participants reported experiencing one or more forms of abuse by an intimate partner in the past year: 10.2 percent reported physical abuse; 35.8 percent , psychological abuse; and 12.6 percent, sexual abuse.