'Will cut hair with razor': Indian-origin Hinsu man Bhushan Athale jailed in US for violent threats against Sikhs

49-year-old Bhushan Athale, an Indian-origin man in Texas, was sentenced to 26 months in prison for making violent threats against Sikh employees of a nonprofit organization in New Jersey.

Athale called the main number of the Sikh nonprofit organization and left numerous messages threatening to injure or kill these individuals, cut their hair with a razor etc. The first calls were made in 2022 and in January this year he pleaded guilty to "interfering with federally protected activities” by threatening to use a dangerous weapon and making an interstate threat to injure another person.He threatened to shave off her and other Sikhs’ “top and bottom” hair with a razor and called members of the religious group by profane names and other insults, according to the criminal complaint authorities wrote when the charges were filed.In 2023, he again called the same Sikh organization and left two more voicemail using violent, sexual imagery against Sikhs and Muslims. He had also sent “hate-fuelled” emails and messages to a Muslim colleague in November 2021, a separate complaint against him said. In a telephone interview with law enforcement in February 2022, the criminal complaint stated, Athale told investigators that he hated Muslims because they ruined India.

“The Department of Justice has no tolerance for hate-fueled threats of violence in our country, and we appreciate the strong efforts of US Attorney Alina Habba and her team in working with us to bring this perpetrator to justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.