Arranged marriage ended in murder after cheating Amazon software engineer and his wife moved to ritzy Pacific Northwest enclave, prosecutors say

By NIC WHITE, US SENIOR INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER Published: 14:18, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 14:18, 9 July 2026 An Amazon software engineer is accused of getting out of an arranged marriage by strangling his wife, before sending a photo of her body to his mistress. Avinash Narne, 30, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to first-degree murder eight months after his wife Raajitha Sabbineni, 27, was found dead in their bathroom. He claimed to have returned from buying Sabbineni medication and ice cream on October 27 to find her locked in the bathroom and unresponsive. The couple, who came to the US from India to pursue tech careers, moved into an apartment in the wealthy city of Bellevue, near Seattle, just three months earlier. But prosecutors alleged Narne was instead in love with another woman back in India, and murdered Sabbineni to get her out of the way. Narne proposed to Maithra KM - another software engineer - with an engagement ring in late 2024, but her parents blocked them from getting married. 'Despite Maithra's parents refusing the engagement, Avinash and Maithra continued to have daily contact via WhatsApp calls and texts and were sexually intimate in January 2025 based on time-stamped images,' police wrote in charging documents. 'Even after his marriage to Raajitha, Avinash communicated regularly with Maithra, often proclaiming his love to her and expressing wishes to be together.' Narne invited Maithra to his wedding on June 5 last year, and they continued talking almost every day after he moved in with his wife. Police alleged Narne sent Maithra a photo of Raajitha's body the morning after her death, and she told him 'this happened in your dream'. Amazon software engineer Avinash Narne, 30, (right) is accused of getting out of an arranged marriage by strangling his wife Raajitha Sabbineni, 27 Narne repeatedly denied murdering his wife and her death wasn't investigated as a homicide until the King County Medical Examiner ruled in December she was murdered by strangulation. He told police that he went to work at Amazon's Seattle headquarters as normal that morning until Raajitha's family told him she wasn't feeling well. Raajitha, he said, had been suffering from polycystic ovarian disease, panic attacks, and gastric issues for months before her death. She was taken to Overlake Hospital earlier that month for panic attacks after 'being found lying on the apartment floor'. Her symptoms were described as 'dizziness and tachycardia' as well as 'restlessness, shakiness' and 'history of anxiety', police wrote. Narne said that after speaking with Raajitha's family several times, they asked him to get her medication from CVS to manage her gastric issues. Records from the apartment's electronic door lock showed Narne left at 6.16pm and returned at 6.53pm, also bringing ice cream from Cold Stone. Narne said after he couldn't get into the bathroom or a response from his wife, he called a friend and Raajitha's cousin, who both lived nearby. He left again 17 minutes later, this time manually locking and unlocking the door. He told police he went to the building's leasing office to get help and called 911 after he couldn't find anyone. However, during the time he was supposedly trying to get through to his wife, Narne was allegedly on the phone to Maithra, according to his WhatsApp call logs. The records showed he called Maithra for 24 minutes and had a 51-minute video chat earlier in the afternoon, while he was supposed to be looking after his wife. 'Avinash did not disclose any of these calls during the initial interview. This appeared intentionally omitted,' police wrote. Narne told police Maithra was just a 'friend of a mutual friend', but police wrote that their messages were 'mostly romantic in nature'. Narne and Raajitha, who came to the US from India to pursue tech careers, moved into an apartment in Bellevue, near Seattle, just three months earlier The morning after Raajitha's death 'Maithra referenced a dream Avinash had previously shared. Specifically, Maithra stated, 'this happened in your dream',' police wrote. When Narne was questioned by police on June 26 this year - once detectives were armed with his chat history - they asked him about a message he sent his mistress that morning and later deleted. 'Avinash stated, 'I probably deleted a picture' followed by, 'I don't remember even taking a picture of Raaji',' police wrote. 'Based on the context, it appeared that Avinash may have taken a picture of Raajitha's deceased body and sent the picture.' Maithra responded with a 'bulging eyes' emoji, police wrote. When asked why he, unprompted, told police he sent a photo of his wife's body to his lover, he replied: 'I don't remember taking a picture of Raaji as well ... that body ... I'm just trying to recollect which one I got.' Police alleged that despite pressing him on the issue several times, 'Avinash could not answer why he thought the deleted message was a picture of Raajitha's body in this context'. Detectives wrote that Narne's phone rang towards the end of the interview. It was Maithra. Charging documents also alleged Narne saved a screenshot of a news article published the morning of his wife's death about a victim being strangled and their body set on fire. Narne's Instagram activity also showed that an associate of his earlier sent him two other articles about Indian police investigating strangulation or poisoning murders. Messages between Narne and Raajitha in the weeks leading up to her death showed she complained to him that drinks he made for her tasted unusually bitter. She said one smoothie he made her on the day she died tasted like 'medicine' and 'cough syrup', according to their chat history. Detectives wrote that they determined from the apartment door (pictured) activity that no one else could have broken into that apartment and killed Raajitha Raajitha, from Vijayawada in southern India, lived in the US since at least January 2020 when she was an intern at EPAM Systems before  She studied a Masters of Computer Science at the University of North Texas in 2021 to 2022, then moved to Denton, Texas, where she started as a software developer in the Java programming language at Om Tek in February 2023. Her sister Poojitha Sabbineni also lived in the area after moving from Michigan and buying a house in Liberty Hill with her husband in March 2024. Police interviewed an unnamed sister of Raajitha, who said she videochatted with her, along with Narne, about 1pm the day she died, and the last text she received from her was at 4.46pm. Raajitha's phone records showed she spoke to her father for about three minutes at 1.25pm, then tried to call her mother at 4.45pm. Her phone was last locked at 5.46pm. Detectives wrote that they determined from the apartment door activity that no one else could have broken into that apartment and killed Raajitha. They also allegedly discovered that the bathroom door could be locked from the outside by by turning the knob and closing the door.  'This indicated that the killer could have attacked Raajitha in the bathroom or moved Raajitha into the bathroom after the act and locked the bathroom door behind them, leaving her body locked alone inside,' they wrote. Narne was arrested on July 1 and is being held on a $5 million bail. He will face trial on August 24 and could be jailed for life.