'Cut Hair of Each Sikh': Hate Story of Bhushan Athale, from India to a US Jail
A US Court sentenced Indian American Bhushan Athale to 26 months for hate comments and threats against a Sikh woman.
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(Trigger warning: Hate speech, threat of violence and explicit language)
"I am going to catch each and every f***ing Sikh and cut their motherf***ing hair."
This is one of the many threatening voicemail messages that Indian-origin American Bhushan Athale sent to a female Sikh employee of a New Jersey-based Sikh civil rights organisation. The threatening messages prompted a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe and a US court has now sentenced Athale to 26 months in prison for "hate crime" and "making interstate threats against various individuals based on their 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 a press release issued on June 3.
To find out more about Athale and the offences he committed, The Quint examined the documents submitted by the FBI in the case and also traced his roots and educational background in India.
In one case, he even threatened to kill his own colleague and his family just for being Muslims.
Read the full story for all these details.
The Phone Calls on September 17, 2022
According to the documents submitted by the FBI, on the morning of Saturday, September 17, 2022, a female employee of a New Jersey-based Sikh non-profit organisation received a call from a mobile number that was later identified as belonging to Athale. She didn't answer the call at that moment.
Approximately two minutes later, she received another call from the same number and she didn't answer again.
When she called back, Athale answered the phone. During the conversation, Athale began cursing her. She hung up and blocked his number.
According to the FBI, phone records from September 17, 2022 reflect that Athale called this particular female employee nine times and her organisation three times.
Over the next one hour, she received seven voice mail messages from Athale, all replete with threats and abuses, mainly in Hindi.
Voicemail Message 1: "You a*****es, if you want Khalistan, (we) will catch each one of you ...we will shave off top and bottom hair of each one of you, sisterf***ers. Will make your head bald..."
Voicemail Message 2: "I am going to catch each and every f***ing Sikh and cut their mother f***ing hair, okay; up and down, all the way ... sisterf*** er. Khalistan, you want Khalistan, f***ing Sikh. I mean, is it even f***ing 12 o'clock right now."
Voicemail Message 3: Besides repeating the above threats, Athale added, "Will make you smoke a cigarette, sister f***er, make you consume tobacco."
(Note: Smoking and consuming tobacco are prohibited for Sikhs)
"You a*****es, will kick your ass out of Maharashtra...You will get very little time to run away. Your Nanded of Guru Gobind Singh...We will f*** the Nanded, sisterf***er...You want to stay in Maharashtra, you have to follow the rules."
In message no. 6, he threatens the female employee that he will "cut the hair of every Punjabi" if she doesn't call him back.
Voicemail Message 7: "Hello, I will make sure that you know, we catch each and every f***ing Sikh and donate their hair to Tirupati temple or sell it in America. I will make sure every Sikh will be f***ing bald. We will catch with everyone."
The seventh message is a long one and he repeats these threats several times along with many expletives.
According to the female employee's statements to law enforcement, the voicemails left her feeling shaken and fearing for the safety of herself, her family and colleagues.
She promptly shared the messages with her colleagues, saying, "Team, sharing the very filthy and threatening message he left on my voicemail. Essentially saying that if we (Sikhs) want Khalistan then he will scalp us and kill us, it is very, very profane."
She informed the local police the very same day.
It must be stated here that for Sikhs, cutting off hair (Kesh Qatl) amounts to sacrilege against an article of faith.
The Call on March 21, 2024
On March 21, the Sikh organisation received two threatening and abusive voicemail messages from Athale's number. Athale again spoke mostly in Hindi, with some English and Marathi words.
Voicemail Message 1: "Sons of bitches, Modi should confiscate your entire property over there. Brother Modi, Modi ji, my lord Modi, seize the properties of these mother f***ers. Cancel their visas, etc. These truck driver, cluster of hairs, when they return to India, catch them and beat their ass, beat it in a way...every single vein....f*** these rascal's mothers. Sister f***er! Cluster of hairs. f***ing Muslim! Bring them to Maharashtra, put them in the hands of Mumbai Police...We people will break their ass like this."
(We have edited out Athavale's expletives targeted at Waheguru)
Voicemail Messages 2:
"Then, where are yoµ creating Khalistan in Canada? While waking up and sleeping, sister f***er, on our RAW agents without a reason, ha? You commit unreasonable acts. Mother f***ers."
These messages were reported to law enforcement by a male Sikh employee of the same organisation.
It may be remembered that he sent these messages at a time when national elections were underway in India and his emphasis on PM Narendra Modi could be because of that.
Since Athale's first call in September 2022, the organisation says it has taken steps to increase its employees' security.
A History of Hate: Terminated for Anti-Muslim Remarks
The targeting of the Sikh organisation and its employees wasn't Athale's first tryst with hate and threats.
According to the FBI, Athale, "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."
In late 2021, Athale was terminated from an organisation for expressing "religiously-hateful and violent messages toward his Muslim coworker".
The FBI interviewed this co-worker and accessed hateful and threatening emails and messages that Athale had sent to him.
On November 6, 2021, Athale sent a series of written messages to the Muslim co-worker using a professional networking site. The messages included the following statements by Athale. It includes a threat to kill him and his family:
"You are a Muslim and a terrorist".
"Muslim are Terrorist, I had told you already".
"1947 partisan [sic] because Muslim can't live in our Hindu country''.
"India will positively bomb Pakistan".
"I hate Muslim, go to Pakistan".
"Muslims 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."
• "I have allergies with Muslim"
• "Yes you ·have right to choose your religion in India, but in 1947 Muslim wanted another country which is Pakistan. Muslim has 57 country excessive for Muslim? What is wrong with only one Hindu country? Ask yourself why Jews & Hindu don't have problems? Why western world doesn't have problems with Hindustan & why all religions has problems with ONLY Muslim?? Why?"
On November 6 and November 7, 2021, Athale sent a series of emails to the said Muslim co-worker, which included the following statements:
"I hate Pakistan"
"I hate Muslims"
"I am not Marshall, but as an Indian I will love Pakistan to be crushed. But wait India don't need war, because Jew will do it eventually, let's crush Pakistan financially [emoticon]".
In his interview to law enforcement agencies, the co-worker said he was initially surprised at Athale's remarks as he had worked with him in the past and "never faced any problems prior to the threatening messages".
Since the messages contained threats to kill him and his family, the colleague became concerned for their safety and reported the matter.
He blocked all communications from Athale. But despite this, Athale apparently tried to contact this co-worker several times.
Telephone records cited by FBI show that Athale continued trying to call this colleague 6 times on January 12, 2022 once on February 18, 2022.
He sent one MMS each on July 6 and July 12, 2022.
On February 9, 2022, law enforcement officers telephonically interviewed Athale regarding his threats to the above-mentioned person. Athale admitted knowing him and said that he "f***ing hated Muslims".
When the officers asked him why he hated Muslims, Athale stated that "Muslims ruined [his] country, India"
Studied in Nanded, Moved to US in 2001
Athale was born sometime in the 1970s and seems to hail from Nanded in Maharashtra.
Nanded has huge significance in Sikhism as Guru Gobind Singh spent his final days here before passing away in 1708. The city is home to Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchal Nagar Sahib, one of the five High Seats of Authority of Sikhism
In one of the voicemail messages to the Sikh employee, he mentions that he has visited the Gurdwara in Nanded and even partook of the langar.
Athale did his Bachelors in Electronics and Computer Engineering from a college in Nanded and began working for a top industrial house as a programmer. He worked for them till 2001 before moving to the US for his Master's.
After his MS he has been working as an IT consultant for a variety of private companies and a few public enterprises in different parts of the US. His longest stint seems to have been in Texas.
Judging by the chronology in his resume, he seems to have been based in Texas both when he made the threats to the Muslim co-worker in 2021 as well as to the Sikh organisation employee in 2022. The FBI has established his location as Dallas County in Texas at the time of his threatening messages to the Sikh female employee.
It is interesting that he sent the threatening voice mails barely a week before he became a naturalised citizen of the US in September 2022.
None of the documents submitted by the FBI indicate any kind of insanity on the part of Athale. He seems to have been of sane mind while committing the said offences and he pleaded guilty in court.
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