Money dispute turned deadly? Telugu woman Nikitha's father breaks silence on US killing

Speaking to The Indian Express, Anand Godishala, father of Nikitha Godishala, said his daughter had gone to the US for higher studies and later began working there.

“It is not right to call the accused her ex-boyfriend. He is her ex-flatmate. Four of them used to live in that apartment. After she started working two years ago, she moved to a separate flat,” he said. “I believe there was a financial disagreement with the accused.”

Godishala alleged that the suspect, identified as Arjun Sharma, had borrowed money from his daughter.

“He had a habit of borrowing money, and he borrowed from my daughter too. When she asked him to return the money, I think he asked her to come to his flat, attacked her there and fled,” he told the newspaper. He urged the Centre and state governments to assist in bringing his daughter’s body back to India at the earliest.

Nikitha Godishala, a resident of Ellicott City, Maryland, went missing on New Year’s Eve. She was later found dead with multiple stab wounds inside Sharma’s apartment in Columbia, Maryland, police said.

Authorities have named Arjun Sharma, 26, of Columbia, as the prime suspect in the case. In a statement, the Howard County Police Department said officers located Godishala’s body on January 3 inside an apartment in the 10100 block of Twin Rivers Road, after executing a search warrant.

Police said Sharma had filed a missing person report on January 2, claiming he last saw Godishala at his apartment. Investigators later discovered that Sharma left the United States for India on the same day after filing the report.

“Detectives executed a search warrant at the apartment on January 3 and located Godishala deceased,” police said, adding that investigators believe she was killed shortly after 7 p.m. on December 31.

An arrest warrant has been issued against Sharma on charges of first- and second-degree murder. The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities said no motive has been officially established so far.