NEWARK, N.J. – An Indiana man was sentenced today to 222 months in prison for plotting to pay a purported hitman to kill his ex-wife and for attempting to tamper with witnesses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Narsan Lingala, 58, of Noblesville, Indiana, was previously convicted of one count of conspiring to commit murder for hire, one count of traveling interstate or using interstate facilities with intent that a murder for hire be committed, and two counts of attempting to tamper with a witness. Lingala was convicted following an eight-day jury trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:
Lingala conspired and attempted to hire a purported hitman to kill his ex-wife. He also attempted to tamper with the testimony of a co-conspirator and an undercover law enforcement officer. The conduct for which he was convicted occurred between approximately May 2018 and March 2019.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Lingala to three years of supervised release.
Lingala’s conspirator, Sandya Reddy, pleaded guilty in April 2019 to her role in the scheme and was sentenced on Aug. 10, 2020, to 63 months in prison.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Messenger in Newark; the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone; and the Woodbridge Police Department, under the direction of Police Director Robert Hubner, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Feldman Nikic of the Cybercrime Unit and Thomas S. Kearney of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.