27 episodes
Strangeland audiochuck
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- True Crime
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4.3 • 2.2K Ratings
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STRANGELAND from audiochuck is an investigative series that examines cases in immigrant neighborhoods.
Season 2: Murder is Maple Shade is hosted by investigative journalist Ben Adair and award-winning journalist with more than 30 years experience across three continents, Tinku Ray.
Maple Shade, New Jersey is a quaint suburb where the motto is, “Nice Town, Friendly People.” But on the evening of March 23, 2017, an Indian tech worker, Sasikala Narra, and her six-year-old son, Anish, were found brutally murdered in their apartment. Police questioned the husband and father, Hanumantha, but his alibi checked out. Six years later, the case is still unsolved, and authorities won’t discuss it. So, we’re investigating for ourselves and discovering new leads, potential motives, and questionable behavior by local authorities. Will there ever be justice for Sasikala and Anish?
Strangeland is produced by Western Sound.
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Season 2: Murder in Maple Shade
Maple Shade, New Jersey is a quaint suburb; its slogan is “Nice Town, Friendly People.” But on the evening of March 23, 2017, an Indian tech worker, Sasikala Narra, and her six-year-old son, Anish, were found brutally murdered in their apartment.
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Ep 1 of 14: Nice Town, Friendly People
Hanumantha Narra arrives home from work to find the lifeless bodies of his wife and son.
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Ep 2 of 14: The Divide
Maple Shade is a modern-day Mayberry, but in the Fox Meadow apartments, it’s a different story.
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Ep 3 of 14: The Husband
Following the murders, Sasi’s husband Hanu was taken in for questioning. But investigators soon let him go, saying his alibi holds up.
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Ep 4 of 14: The Inner Circle
The Narra murders divide the sizable Indian community in South Jersey. Hanu’s closest confidants at the powerful Telugu Association of North America (TANA) keep strangely silent while other Indian cultural groups readily assist investigators in drumming up new leads. Is TANA trying to protect someone?
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Ep 5 of 14: The Drop Off
Murdered son Anish Narra was beloved by those who knew him.
Customer Reviews
Honoring victims
Love the empathy of the hosts in honoring the victims. Thank you. One request, longer episodes please!
Season 1: Biased from the beginning
There’s a moment later in the season where they discuss whether they think he was wrongfully convicted or not and from the beginning it was painfully obvious what they thought. Ben said something about how they had to “remain objective” when investigating this case before discussing their opinions and I actually laughed out loud. This is not an unbiased telling of this story. I don’t want to spoil anything for people that still end up listening to this podcast after reading this review, but in my opinion they ignore completely reasonable explanations for events that don’t support their beliefs. I think it would’ve been more compelling if the hosts were better able to keep personal opinions out of it for the first half of the podcast, then it wouldn’t have been so obvious where it was headed and it wouldn’t have felt like it dragged on.
Otherwise, it’s not bad. It is very clearly scripted, the “acting” for the conversations is pretty awful/cringy, but frankly you get that a lot with podcasts. And the impact of cultural differences on the investigation was very interesting.
Excellent reporting and investigative journalism
Love this podcast. Especially loved the NJ season since I live minutes away, and my work office is close to the main suspect’s place of employment. Shockingly I don’t remember hearing of this case in the news. Looking forward to 2024 season.