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Nepali student, 21, found shot to death in her Houston apartment; Man arrested and charged
Muna Pandey, a 21-year-old college student from Nepal, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in her Houston apartment.
A 21-year-old community college student from Nepal was found shot to death in her Houston apartment after an armed robbery. Authorities discovered Muna Pandey's body with multiple gunshot wounds around 5:35 pm on Monday, August 26. Bobby Singh Shah, 51, has been arrested and charged with capital murder in connection with the fatal shooting.
Muna Pandey, 21-year-old student from Nepal found shot to death in her home
The staff at Pandey's apartment complex located at 6363 West Airport Boulevard dialled 911 after receiving an anonymous tip about a dead body inside the apartment. Paramedics declared her dead at the scene, the Houston Police Department said in a statement released Thursday.
As part of the initial investigation, the police released a surveillance photo of a man, who was later identified as Shah, leaving Pandey's apartment two days before her body was discovered. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office filed a capital murder charge against him on Wednesday.
The suspect was located and arrested later that evening during a traffic stop in northwest Houston and was subsequently booked into the Harris County Jail. Shah's arrest was made “in a coordinated effort by HPD SWAT officers, the HPD Crime Reduction Unit and the Texas Department of Public Safety.”
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A GoFundMe page has been established in an effort to raise money for Pandey's mother, Anita, who lives overseas. The fundraiser aims to assist her with travel expenses to Houston and funeral costs. Drona Gautam of the Nepalese Association of Houston told New York Post that Anita had been trying to reach her daughter for days before she was found dead.
“What mom said is her phone was always online. After Saturday night, phone was offline,” said Gautam, who is working with the Nepal consulate to help create travel arrangements for Anita. “She [Pandey] had like three gunshots and she was laying down on the bed, with head down. Hopefully, the investigation will come up with some idea of how this happened.”
