North Texas man sentenced to federal prison for hate crimes against Sikhs
Bhushan Athale, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with federally protected activities and one count of transmitting an interstate threat, in an agreement with prosecutors late last year, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
On two occasions, from his home in Texas he called members of a Sikh nonprofit organization in New Jersey that advocates for Sikh civil rights, the criminal complaint stated.
On Sept. 17, 2022, Athale called one member of the nonprofit multiple times, leaving seven voicemails threatening Sikhs with violence. 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.
On March 22, 2024, the nonprofit again reported that Athale called from the same phone number and left two voicemails, expressing his hatred for Sikhs and Muslims with violent, sexual phrases, the press release stated.
Athale had previously sent emails to a Muslim coworker in November 2021, explicitly stating that he hated Pakistan and Muslims, according to the criminal complaint. He had tried to message the coworker 345 times as of January 2022.
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.
In many of his voicemails to the Sikh nonprofit, he also referenced Khalistan, a theoretical country that a subsect of separatist Sikhs are in favor of creating, according to the complaint. Athale questioned members of the nonprofit numerous times about where they would be creating the country.
The case was investigated by agents with the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office.
Along with the sentence of over two years in prison, U.S. District Judge Edward Kiel in Camden, New Jersey, sentenced Athale to three years of supervised release and told him to not contact the victims of his crimes.
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