Investigators say phone records, messages and electronic locks challenged his account of finding his wife dead after running errands.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Eight months after a 27-year-old woman was found dead behind a locked bathroom door, investigators arrested her husband and accused him of strangling her, staging the apartment and withholding a romantic relationship that police say supplied a possible motive.

Avinash Narne, 30, was charged July 1 with first-degree murder in the Oct. 27, 2025, death of his wife, Raajitha Sabbineni. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Sabbineni died from asphyxia caused by strangulation and classified her death as a homicide, according to the probable cause affidavit described in court reporting. Narne pleaded not guilty July 7. Police said after his arrest that he was being held in the King County Jail on $5 million bail while the investigation continued. The case developed slowly because the apartment initially appeared to contain a simple explanation for why Narne could not reach his wife. He told authorities that Sabbineni had been feeling ill, that he left to buy medicine and ice cream and that he returned to find the bathroom locked. Officers forced open the door and found her on the floor. Medics moved her into the living room and attempted to save her, but she was pronounced dead at the apartment.

That account became the starting point for an investigation built largely from records created by phones, online accounts and devices inside the home. Detectives examined electronic lock information, communication histories, Google accounts, WhatsApp activity and Instagram records. Each source offered a narrow piece of the timeline. Taken together, investigators said, the information conflicted with parts of Narne’s first statements and pointed toward events inside the apartment that he had not disclosed.

Electronic door records were important because they indicated that no unidentified person entered the apartment during the period when Narne said he was away. Investigators also tested the bathroom lock and found that the door could be secured by turning the knob and then closing it from the outside. That meant a person could leave someone inside, shut the door and create the appearance that it had been locked from within. Police said the finding did not prove by itself who killed Sabbineni, but it weakened the suggestion that the locked door explained how she died.

Investigators also compared Narne’s statements with the calls he made on the day of his wife’s death. He initially described traveling home from work after learning that Sabbineni did not feel well, then leaving again to obtain items for her. Phone records, however, showed repeated communication with another woman in India, including lengthy audio and video calls. One call allegedly occurred while Narne said he was trying to find a way into the locked bathroom. Police said he did not mention those calls during his first interview.

The records led detectives to what they described as a secret romantic relationship that continued through Narne’s marriage. Messages allegedly showed that he and the other woman had considered becoming engaged in late 2024, but her parents did not approve. Investigators said the two remained in daily contact, met intimately in January 2025 and continued expressing love for each other. Narne married Sabbineni through an arranged marriage in June 2025, and the couple moved into their Bellevue apartment the following month.

According to the affidavit, the other woman attended Narne and Sabbineni’s wedding as a guest without Sabbineni knowing the full nature of the relationship. Detectives said messages after the wedding showed that Narne continued telling the woman he loved her and wanted them to be together. When police had asked during the initial investigation whether either spouse had an extramarital relationship, Narne allegedly denied knowing of one. He later characterized the woman as a friend connected through another person, despite messages investigators viewed as romantic.

A deleted WhatsApp message became one of the most striking pieces of the digital evidence, though authorities have described its meaning as an allegation rather than a confirmed fact. The day after Sabbineni died, the other woman referred to a dream Narne had told her about and wrote that it had happened, according to the affidavit. Narne then allegedly deleted a message, after which the woman responded with an emoji depicting widened or staring eyes.

When detectives questioned Narne about the deletion, he allegedly volunteered that it may have involved a photograph. He also referred to not remembering whether he had taken a picture of “Raaji,” a familiar form of his wife’s name. Police interpreted the exchange as evidence that he may have photographed Sabbineni’s body and sent the image to the woman before deleting it. The affidavit did not say investigators recovered the image itself, and the available public accounts do not establish that the recipient was accused of participating in Sabbineni’s death.

Another line of inquiry grew from toxicology testing and messages about drinks prepared inside the home. Traces of THC were found in Sabbineni’s urine. Narne initially told investigators that he did not think she used marijuana, according to the affidavit, but later said he had given it to her to help her sleep. Police reviewed exchanges in which Sabbineni reportedly described coconut water, smoothies and other drinks prepared by Narne as bitter or tasting like medicine or cough syrup. Messages from the day she died indicated that Sabbineni felt unwell and believed a smoothie tasted unusual. Investigators examined those exchanges while trying to understand the THC finding, but the medical examiner identified strangulation, not poisoning, as the cause of death. Public accounts of the charging papers do not indicate that Narne was charged with poisoning Sabbineni. The drink-related evidence instead became part of the broader inquiry into his changing statements and her condition before she was found.

Narne’s conduct after the death also drew scrutiny. Investigators alleged that he continued communicating with the woman in India and contacted the medical examiner’s office several times for information about the cause of death. During an early police interview, he cited Sabbineni’s reported panic attacks and digestive problems and denied killing her. When a detective directly asked whether he was responsible, the affidavit says Narne laughed before answering that he was not.

Police ultimately presented the relationship, the conflicting statements, the communication timeline and the apartment records as parts of one circumstantial case. The affidavit says investigators believed Narne regarded his wife as an obstacle to being with the other woman. That language represents the investigators’ theory of motive and has not been established by a jury. Narne’s not-guilty plea means prosecutors must prove both the killing and the elements of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

The charge came after Bellevue major-crimes detectives conducted a follow-up interview and arrested Narne in late June. Bellevue police announced that King County Superior Court had formally charged him July 1 and said the investigation remained active. No trial result or other final disposition had been reported in the public materials available for this article as of Aug. 2.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 2, 2026.