Desi student claims girlfriend, friend were cheating on him.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Twenty-four year-old Rahul Gupta, a student at George Washington University, has been accused of murdering his friend, Mark Edward Waugh, who was a student at Georgetown University Law School, early Sunday morning.
Gupta, Waugh, and Gupta’s girlfriend — who has not been identified by police — were partying on Saturday in celebration of Gupta’s birthday. They drank at various locations around Silver Spring, MD, before going back to Waugh’s apartment, also in Silver Spring.
At Waugh’s apartment, they drank some more. Gupta’s girlfriend told police she blacked out from the alcohol, and that the next thing she remembers is being woken up by Gupta and frantically told to call 911 immediately. Police were called to the scene at 3:30 a.m., where there was blood all over the floors and walls. Waugh’s body was on the floor, unresponsive, with multiple cut wounds on his body and forearms, indicating “defensive-type” wounds.
Waugh was declared dead at the scene, while Gupta was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
The twist in the story, however, comes from Gupta claiming that Waugh attacked him with a knife first, and that the stabbing stemmed from an argument the two got into because Gupta accused Waugh of being in a romantic relationship with Gupta’s girlfriend behind his back.
“I walked in on my girlfriend cheating on me,” Gupta told police in a statement after his arrest. “My girl was cheating with my buddy, I walked in on them and I killed my buddy.”
Gupta, who is due in court for his arraignment later today, is a resident of McLean, Virginia. At George Washington University, he is pursuing a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. He is being held on $2 million bond.
Waugh graduated magna cum laude from James Madion University, located in Harrisonburg, VA, in 2012. This fall, he began his first semester at Georgetown University Law School.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com