A 25-year-old Indian student at a prestigious US university has been found guilty of murdering his friend in 2013 over suspicion that his girlfriend was cheating on him with his high school buddy and faces life in prison when sentenced.   

Rahul Gupta was found guilty on Monday of first-degree murder by a jury in Maryland after an 11-day trial. He had initially told the police that he killed his friend 23-year-old Mark Waugh as he suspected that his girlfriend was cheating on him with Waugh.   

Gupta, a graduate student at George Washington University later sought to put the blame on his girlfriend Taylor Gould, saying that he had lied to protect her. 

He will be sentenced on April 16 and faces life in prison.

According to charging documents, Gupta, his girlfriend,Waugh and another friend spent a night drinking and celebrating Gupta's birthday in his apartment which he shared with his girlfriend. Later in the wee hours of October 13, 2013, Gupta's girlfriend called the police saying she woke up and saw Gupta kneeling next to Waugh, who was bleeding heavily.  

When officers arrived, Gupta told them he thought his girlfriend was cheating on him with Waugh, a Georgetown University law student and his best friend since high school. "I walked in on my girlfriend cheating on me," Gupta told the officers.