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A murder suspect in the death of a young nursing student was identified after a tipster recognized him from his alleged profile on a “Sugar Daddy” website, police said.
Bobby Singh Shah, 51, was arrested and charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Muna Pandey, the Houston Police Department announced in a statement.
The Nepalese nursing student at Houston Community College was found dead in her Houston apartment on August 26 after an “unknown male” called her building manager to notify them about a dead body in her unit before hanging up, according to a criminal complaint obtained by People.
Pandey was last seen on the night of August 24, the same evening neighbors heard a “loud thump” coming from her apartment.
Investigators said Pandey was shot three times in the torso and once in the back of the head, “execution style.”
Footage from the young woman’s security camera — which a friend told cops she had recently purchased because she had previously been stalked — ultimately helped lead investigators to her alleged killer. The August 24 footage showed Pandey at her door with shopping bags when a man approaches her and forces her inside at gunpoint. The same man is later seen leaving the apartment with one of the bags.
A woman called police on August 28 and told them she “instantly” recognized the man in the footage as Shah from a “Sugar Daddy” website, according to the complaint.
Shah was also recognized by Pandey’s former employer, who said he was a regular patron at his restaurant, where Pandey previously worked.
Shah was arrested on September 4 during a traffic stop. He was still wearing the same blood-stained clothing seen on camera when he left the victim’s apartment, police said. A gun was found in his car, according to prosecutors.
The suspect is currently being held without bond, according to Harris County District Court records.
A GoFundMe has been created to help the victim’s mother, Anita, travel from Nepal to Houston, and to pay for her only daughter’s funeral expenses.
Pandey had moved to Houston in 2021, “leaving behind her only family—her beloved mother, Anita, in Nepal. Muna was Anita’s only child, and the two shared an unbreakable bond,” according to the fundraiser.
The funds will be used to “ease the financial burden during this tragic time and allow Anita to be present for her daughter’s final journey.”
“No mother should have to face such heartbreak, especially from so far away,” the GoFundMe reads. “By donating, you will be helping to ease the financial burden during this tragic time and allow Anita to be present for her daughter’s final journey.”
