Gurugram: A 34-year-old man from Karnal, Haryana—identified as Shammy Verma—has been arrested in the US on several counts of sexual assault, including rape, sodomy and attempt to rape.
According to a press release issued by the police department of Santa Rosa, California, he is suspected of having tricked at least two women into entering his vehicle and then sexually assaulting them. Investigators suspect there could be more victims and are inviting them to come forward.
A source in Karnal told ThePrint that Verma hails from the Ashok Nagar area and had moved to the US in 2022. His father, a former Haryana Roadways employee, used his retirement savings to fund the move. In the US, Verma, it is learnt, used to work at a 7-Eleven store to make a living.
The Santa Rosa police, who arrested Verma, have posted the case details as well as a picture of the suspect through their X handle as a public safety alert.
“In late February 2025, the Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD) received a report of a sexual assault by a male acquaintance of a female victim. The victim reported that in June 2024, the suspect lured her into his vehicle, a black Toyota Highlander, under the guise of conversation before forcibly raping her. The case was turned over to the SRPD Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Team (DVSA), and during their investigation, they identified the suspect as 34-year-old Santa Rosa resident, ‘Shammy’,” read the Santa Rosa PD press release.
It further said that ‘Shammy’ is the suspect’s legal and only name, but he is also known as ‘Sam’ or ‘Sammy’ and uses Verma as a last name.
“The DVSA team also learned that detectives with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety (RPDPS) were investigating a similar incident involving possibly the same suspect,” said the notification.
In January this year, it is alleged that Shammy was at Rohnert Park, a city in California’s Sonoma County, when he forced himself on another woman inside his vehicle.
Detectives from SRPD and the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety (RPDPS) began collaborating on their investigations, and on 24 April this year, Shammy was arrested and booked into a Sonoma County detention facility under felony charges including rape, sodomy and assault with attempt to.
According to the Santa Rosa police, Verma had demonstrated a pattern of forming relationships with women, and then allegedly sexually assaulting them. They called upon local people to report if the suspect had committed similar crimes with others.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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