New Delhi: Bhushan Athale, a Texan of Indian origin, identifies himself on LinkedIn as an IT consultant and a coder who has worked with several companies across the US. However, there’s another side to his personality, one that is disturbing and even dangerous.
For years, Athale has spewed vile, hate-laced messages online, often dripping with violent and sexual imagery, directed at Sikhs and Muslims. Besides being outright hateful, his rhetoric has been graphic, and included threats of violence, including calls for murder.
A year after he pled guilty to the hate crime, the 50-year-old has now been sentenced to 26 months in federal prison for threatening employees of a Sikh non-profit. FBI’s probe portrays Athale as a bigot who is not afraid to use threats of violence as a weapon.
According to court documents filed by the FBI, Athale’s turn to hate speech can be traced back to 2021—the year he was terminated from his job after unleashing a barrage of threatening and Islamophobic messages on a professional networking platform.
One such message read, “You are a Muslim and a terrorist.”
Another read: “Muslims are terrorists, I told you already… I have allergies with Muslims.”
“Muslim are living in my land on lease. 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,” read a third message.
In the case that landed him behind bars, Athale made pointed threats against Sikhs, declaring that he would “catch” each of them and shave their hair off with a razor. Among other things, he also threatened to force Sikhs to smoke, which is considered disrespectful to their beliefs.
The FBI describes Athale as someone who “has a lengthy history of using violent imagery to express hatred toward others based on their religion, including both the Muslim religion and the Sikh religion”.
“The Department of Justice has no tolerance for hate-fueled threats of violence in our country…” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
In addition to prison time, Judge Edward S. Kiel also sentenced Athale to three years of supervised release and warned him not to contact any of the victims of his offences.
Also Read: 4 of Indian origin arrested in US for human trafficking. Victims ‘forced to do programming work’
A saga of hate, threats & abuse
According to court documents, on 17 September 2022, Athale left seven threatening voicemails to a New Jersey-based Sikh non-profit. He threatened to use force, dangerous weapons, to physically injure a Sikh woman and other employees and show them “heaven”.
The incident happened in September 2022 when a female employee of the New York-based Sikh non-profit hung up his call during which he asked her why she wanted “Khalistan”.
FBI documents provide a transcript of these hateful messages sent from the same number linked to the professional networking site Athale used to spew hate against his Muslim co-worker in 2021.
During the call, he also mentioned that he had been to a langar (community kitchen) at a gurdwara in his native place Nanded in Maharashtra, which holds historical and religious significance for Sikhs since Guru Gobind Singh spent the last days of his life there.
In March 2024, the Sikh non-profit again received two similar threatening and abusive voicemails from the same number Athale used in 2022.
In one of these voicemails, he said: “Modi in his position [as Prime Minister] should confiscate your [Sikhs’] entire property over there [in India].”
Athale moved to the United States in 2001 for his Masters in Computer Applications from the University of Dayton. He became a naturalised US citizen on 24 September, 2022, a week after he left disturbing voicemails to employees of the Sikh non-profit.
According to his resume uploaded online, he completed his Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics & Computer engineering from Nanded, and worked with Reliance Industries as an engineer and programmer.
FBI documents also reveal that after the incident in 2021, Athale tried calling his Muslim co-worker again between January-February 2022.
During this time when he was interviewed by law enforcement officers, he told them he “hated Muslims” and that “Muslims ruined” India.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Indian-origin man arrested in Canada’s ‘largest’ drug lab bust, nearly 400 kg of meth seized