Abortion Activist Roychowdhury, 29, Arrested For Wisconsin Firebombing

WASHINGTON, DC (IANS) – Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the fire-bombing of an office building in Wisconsin last May.

The 29-year-old resident of Madison was arrested at Boston’s Logan airport with a one-way ticket to Guatemala City according to court papers. He is charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive. If convicted, he faces between 5 and 20 years in prison.

It’s a rare occurrence for an Indian American to be arrested for activism-related criminal offenses.

Law enforcement officials had found a slogan painted on a wall at the fire-bombing site, which could point to Roychowdhury’s motivation: “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and, on another wall, a large letter “A” with a circle around it and the number “1312” (which is a numerical rendition of the acronym ACAB – “All Cops Are B**tards)”, a slogan used by protestors around the world and increasingly by extreme-left activists in the US in response to police killings.

The US Justice Department said Roychowdhury was given away by DNA he had left on an unfinished burrito , which, after a laboratory test, matched the DNA he had left on a lighter that was found by law enforcement personnel at the site of the fire-bombing.

“According to the complaint, Mr. Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with his efforts to terrorize and intimidate a private organization,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The Justice Department said on Mother’s Day on May 8, 2022, law enforcement responded to a fire call at an office building in Madison. Officials found two mason jars at the fire site — one with a missing screw-top lid and the other with the lid, with a piece of cloth tucked into it; it was also half-filled with a clear liquid, which could have been used as an accelerant. They also found a lighter that could have been used to set off the firebombs.

By March 2023, investigators had come to zero in on Roychowdhury as a suspect. Local police officers in Boston picked up a leftover burrito he had thrown into a trash bin, along with related items. A lab test found a DNA match on the leftovers and the lighter.