Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Pushkar Sharma, 28, has been charged with the murder of his 65-year-old mother yesterday morning.

District Attorney Katz said, “What should have been a celebration of Mother’s Day became a brutal, tragic nightmare for a Queens family.  The defendant in this horrific case allegedly choked, punched, sexually assaulted and killed his mother in their home.”

Sharma, of Winchester Blvd. in Jamaica, Queens, was arraigned this afternoon in Queens Criminal Court before Judge Toko Serita on a complaint charging him with 2-counts of murder in the second degree and sexual abuse in the first degree.  Judge Serita ordered him to return to court on May 24, 2021. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, on Saturday, May 8, 2021, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:40 a.m., the defendant approached the victim, Soraj Sharma, from behind, placed his hands around her throat and then began to choke and punch her multiple times in the face. The defendant and his mother struggled for several minutes, falling to the floor as he allegedly continued to punch and strangle her. The defendant then allegedly sexually assaulted his mother and continued to strangle her until she lost consciousness.

According to the charges, DA Katz said, immediately after killing his mother, defendant Sharma went up to his room, retrieved his wallet and keys and walked to the police precinct and reported his criminal actions.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Christopher Alden of the Queens South Homicide Squad and Detective Brendan Parpan of the New York City Police Department’s 105^th Precinct Detective Squad.

Assistant District Attorney Bryan Kotowski of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, John Kosinski and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chiefs and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.