Hyderabad: A US district court sentenced Friday 20-year-old Indian American, Sai Varshith Kandula, with roots in Hyderabad’s Chandanagar to eight years in prison for ramming his rented truck into some White House barricades on May 22, 2023, in a bizarre Nazi-inspired attempt to topple the elected govt and establish “a dictatorship” with him in charge.
Kandula, who pleaded guilty last year to the charge of “wilful injury and depredation of property of the US”, was a high school graduate registered for a course in construction when he made headlines with his professed attempt to gain access to the White House to seize political power.
In addition to the prison term, the court ordered Kandula to serve three years of supervised release.
Kandula’s immediate family lives in St Louis, Missouri, and he holds a green card.
According to court documents, he confessed to investigators about planning to arrange the US President’s assassination and, if needed, some others to achieve his objective. The documents also mention that his actions “were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of the govt by intimidation or coercion”.
On the day of the attack, Kandula took a flight from St Louis to Washington’s Dulles international airport on a one-way ticket.
An hour and 10 minutes after landing at Dulles international airport about 5.20pm (local time), he rented a truck and stopped for food and gas before driving to Washington DC, where he crashed into the barriers protecting the White House and President’s Park at 9.35pm.
“Kandula drove onto the sidewalk, sending pedestrians running from the scene. After striking the barriers, the truck backed up in reverse, then lurched forward, striking the metal barriers a second time. The second impact disabled the truck, which began smoking from the engine compartment and leaking fluids,” the court documents said.
He then exited the vehicle and walked towards the back of the truck. From a backpack, he removed a flag and a three-by-five-foot red-and-white banner with a Swastika at the centre. As he waved the flag, US Park police and Secret Service officers took Kandula into custody.
His actions caused $4,322 (Rs 3.7 lakh) worth of damages to National Park Service, the documents mentioned.
Kandula had planned the attack for several weeks. Prior to renting the truck, he made several attempts to gain access to other vehicles and hire armed security guards.
On April 22, 2023, Kandula requested 25 armed guards and an armoured convoy from a security company located in Virginia. Then, on May 4, he attempted to contact several other companies in an attempt to rent a large commercial tractor-trailer truck, a dump truck, or any other large truck.
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What the court documents mentioned
– Kandula planned the attack for several weeks. Prior to renting the truck and crashing it on White House grounds, he made several attempts to gain access to vehicles or armed security guards
– On April 22, 2023, Kandula requested 25 armed guards and an armoured convoy from a security company located in Virginia
– On May 4, 2023, Kandula attempted to contact several other companies in an attempt to rent a large commercial tractor-trailer truck, a dump truck, or another large truck
– Kandula was unsuccessful in arranging for security guards or a tractor-trailer truck or dump truck. Kandula attempted to arrange for the services of these security guards and the use of large vehicles in order to carry out his offence against the US govt
