Indian-American charged with hate crime for threatening employees of Sikh organisation

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said that a 48-year-old Indian-American man has been charged with federal hate crimes after he allegedly threatened employees of a Sikh nonprofit organisation.

In an official statement, the Department said that Bhushan Athale might face a 10-year prison sentence for interfering with activities that are federally protected by allegedly threatening to use a dangerous weapon.

He also stands party to another penalty of a maximum five years for an interstate threat and both these charges have penalties worth $2,50,000 each as a rider, the statement added.

A complaint filed on September 17, 2022 alleged that Athale called the organisation working to safeguard the rights of Sikh people residing within the US.

The statement further claimed that Athale allegedly left seven voicemails expressing “extreme hatred” for Sikh individuals employed at the organisation and threatening to “injure or kill these individuals with a razor”.

“Violent imagery and obscenity, references to places, people and tenets that are particularly significant within the Sikh religion were what Athale’s voicemails contained”, the statement added.

In two other voicemails sent by Athale in March, he allegedly targeted both the Sikh and the Muslim community.

The investigation shows that Athale has a long history of making religious-based comments and threats, such as when he previously took to a professional networking site to express to one of his former colleagues that he “hate(d) Pakistan” and “hate(d) Muslims”, and he told the co-worker, “I hate you, I just don’t know how to kill your whole family including you? Tell me??? I will figure it out.. Probably I will hire a Jew, they will be most happy”.