The suspect in the firebombing of a Madison, Wisconsin, pro-life pregnancy center last year has been arrested in Boston and charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive.
Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, of Madison, used an incendiary device “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.
According to the complaint, on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2022, at approximately 6:06 a.m., law enforcement responded to an active fire at an office building located in Madison, Wisconsin. Once inside the building, police observed a mason jar under a broken window; the jar was broken, and the lid and screw top were burned black. The police also saw a purple disposable lighter near the mason jar. On the opposite wall from the window, the police saw another mason jar with the lid on and a blue cloth tucked into the top; the cloth was singed. The jar was about half full of a clear fluid that smelled like an accelerant. Outside of the building, someone spray painted on one wall, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and, on another wall, a large “A” with a circle around it and the number “1312.” (DOJ)
Authorities identified Roychowdhury as a suspect after Wisconsin State Capitol Police monitoring a Jan. 21 protest witnessed people spray painting in a “cursive-style writing” that was similar to the graffiti spray-painted on the outside of the Wisconsin pregnancy center. They monitored surveillance footage of a nearby parking garage to link a vehicle leaving the protest to a person at Roychowdhury's address.
This month, local police collected a partially eaten burrito Roychowdhury tossed in a public trash, which helped federal authorities match the DNA to what was found at the Wisconsin crime scene. A forensic biologist determined the samples matched and likely came from the same individual.
If convicted, Roychowdhury faces between five and 20 years in prison.
