Indian-origin teen charged with threatening to kill Biden, Harris
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 May, 2023 11:33 AM
ew York, May 23 (IANS) An Indian-origin teen has been charged with threatening to kill President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in order to "seize power", according to media reports quoting officials.
Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, allegedly rammed a rented truck into White House House barriers on Monday night.
ABC News said that according to police he was charged with "threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a President, Vice President or their families".
The network reported that three law enforcement sources confirmed that Kandula told law enforcement that "he wanted to seize power, take over the government and kill the president".
Officials were also looking into the "mental health component" of the attack, it added.
Kandula may have neo-Nazi sympathies, according to media reports.
WUSA9 TV station reported that a Nazi flag was removed from the vehicle.
NBC News said that the charges of threatening to kill, kidnap or harm the President, Vice President or a relative stemmed from his statements to the Secret Service, the agency that protects the President and other VIPs.
Secret Service Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that shortly before 10.00 p.m., officers "detained the driver of a box truck after the vehicle collided with security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street".
NBC News reported that a robot was used to examine the truck for explosives but none were found.
There were no injuries to anyone in the incident and it was not known if Biden or Harris were at the White House at that time.
Biden had held talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House on averting a financial crisis by raising the borrowing limits for the US government to avoid a default.
Kandula, who is from Chesterfield in Missouri state, flew to Washington and rested the truck at the airport.
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Nabaruna Karmakar, an engineer by profession, was found with two gunshot wounds after officers arrived at her home in Morrisville, North Carolina, responding to a 911 call. Karmakar's husband Michael Aaron Matthews, who placed the 911 call to report a purported double suicide, was been arrested and charged for shooting and killing his wife at their home on April 14.
Footage of Khan being dragged out of court two days earlier sparked outrage among his supporters. Angry protesters torched buildings and vehicles. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif vowed a tough response to the attacks and government figures have already decried Khan's release.
The mother used an app to track her daughter's phone, which led her to a wooded area near Heroes Stadium on Thousand Oaks, some 12 miles away from Reddy's school. She also reported the matter to the police, and as the officers responded, the mother spotted the daughter at the bottom of a cliff.
This was a unique and prestigious occasion when the High Commissioner of the UK visited JGU for the first time and addressed students of international affairs, law and other disciplines, giving them a diplomatic and strategic overview of the relationship between the world's two important democracies.
