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.
Seehra has been awarded 'Commendation for Brave Conduct' for his swift action towards an agitated patient who threatened to blow up the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in Queensland. The patient had a red-wired explosive-looking device wrapped around his body, Seehra told SBS Punjabi.
Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old junior cybersecurity major from Seoul, South Korea, has been held as the prime suspect in the case, Purdue Police Chief Lesley Wiete said. Wiete called the crime "unprovoked and senseless". Chheda was just 10 days away from his 21st birthday, the Indianapolis Star reported.
In a statement, the Chief Minister said it is unfortunate that a Punjabi family hailing from the Harsi village of Hoshiarpur district in the state have been murdered in California. He said that as per reports the family was kidnapped and was brutally murdered later on. Mann said the deceased have been identified as Jasdeep Singh, Jasleen Kaur, Amandeep Singh and an eight-month-old baby Ruhi.
A prominent New York senator is joining the ranks of American lawmakers who want the White House to end vaccination rules at the Canada-U.S. land border. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Brian Higgins, Democrats both, have written to urge President Joe Biden to "reciprocate" Canada's new COVID-19 border policy.
A California man has been charged with hate crimes and robbery after he attacked and robbed 14 South Asian women, mostly wearing sarees and bindis. The estimated worth of all the stolen necklaces is about $35,000.
Mystery deepened in the case of a kidnapped Indian-origin family in California as officials reported that a person was taken into custody in connection with the case after he attempted suicide and the truck belonging to one of the victims was found burning. But still missing is the kidnapped family - eight-month-old baby Aroohi Dheri, her parents, Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36, and uncle, Amandeep Singh, 39.
