Washington:
Sai Varshit Kandura, a 20-year-old Indian national, was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison for attempting to storm the White House in a rented truck on May 22, 2023.
According to the Justice Department, the attack was aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected American government and replacing it with a dictatorship supported by Nazi ideology.
Kandura had previously pleaded guilty on May 13, 2024, to charges of willful injury or taking U.S. property. Born in Chandanagar, India, he was a legal permanent resident of the United States with a green card. In addition to the prison term, District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ordered Kandula to serve three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, the Indian national took a commercial flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington, D.C., on the afternoon of May 22, 2023, arriving at Dulles International Airport via another airport on a one-way ticket. At 5:20 p.m., he rented a truck at 6:30 p.m.
He stopped for food and gas, drove to Washington, D.C., and crashed into the fence protecting the White House and Presidential Park at the intersection of H Street NW and 16th Street NW at 9:35 p.m. Kandula drove his car onto the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to run from the scene. After hitting the barrier, the truck backed up, then lurched forward and hit the metal barrier again. The second impact rendered the truck unable to drive, and the engine compartment started smoking and leaking fluid.
Kandula then got out of the car and moved to the back of the truck. He pulled a national flag from his backpack, a 3-by-5-foot red and white flag with a Nazi swastika in the center, and waved it. U.S. Park Police and U.S. Secret Service agents arrested Kandula at the scene and took him into custody, according to the Department of Justice.
According to the plea agreement, Kandula was trying to break into the White House to seize political power when he crashed his truck into the outer perimeter of the White House.
“Kandula’s intention was to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship supported by Nazi German ideology and place himself in charge of the United States.” “He admitted that he would have arranged the murder of the President of the United States if necessary to achieve this goal. His actions were calculated to influence government action through intimidation and coercion.” .
His actions cost the National Park Service $4,322, according to the Department of Justice. This amount includes the cost of restoring the metal bollard barrier to its original condition and ensuring structural integrity, oil and chemical removal, spill cleanup, and disposal of fluids from the crashed U-Haul. Includes costs.
Kandura planned the attack for several weeks. He made several attempts to approach the vehicle and armed guards before renting a truck and crashing it on the White House grounds. For example, on April 22, 2023, Kandura requested 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a security company in Virginia, federal prosecutors said.
On May 4, 2023, Mr. 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. Mr. Kandura failed to arraign security personnel, tractor-trailer trucks, and dump trucks. According to media releases, Kandura attempted to arrange for the services of these guards and the use of heavy vehicles to carry out attacks against the US government.
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