Washington:

An Indian-American man from Texas has been charged with a federal hate crime and is accused of issuing interstate threats towards staff of a Sikh nonprofit organisation.

Bhushan Athale, 48, faces a most penalty of 10 years in jail for interfering with federally protected actions by threatening to make use of a harmful weapon, an announcement by the Division of Justice mentioned.

He additionally faces a most penalty of 5 years in jail for sending an interstate menace. Each expenses additionally carry a penalty of as much as USD 250,000, the assertion mentioned.

In keeping with the grievance lodged on September 17, 2022, Athale allegedly referred to as the telephone variety of an organisation that advocates for the civil rights of Sikh people inside the USA.

He allegedly left seven voicemails expressing “excessive hatred” in direction of Sikh people working on the organisation and threatening to “injure or kill these people with a razor”, the assertion mentioned.

Athale’s voicemails are alleged to have “violent imagery and obscenity, and contained “references to locations, folks and tenets which might be significantly vital inside the Sikh faith”, it mentioned.

In March, Athale allegedly referred to as the organisation once more and left two extra voicemails — this time the goal have been Sikhs and Muslims.

The Division of Justice mentioned that the investigation confirmed that Athale has a “lengthy historical past of constructing religious-based feedback and threats” and has beforehand additionally used an expert networking web site “to precise to a former co-worker that he “hate[d] Pakistan” and “hate[d] Muslims”. 

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)