April 18, 2006

Vikram Buddhi allegedly posted the detailed and threatening messages on an online message board.

Buddhi has been studying industrial engineering at the university, having moved temporarily from India to his new home in West Lafayette 10 years ago on a student visa. He was originally hired as a teaching assistant in the math department but was removed from that position and is now a teaching assistant in the industrial engineering department.

Since this is a very busy time for college students, being immersed in studying for their upcoming finals, Buddhi’s attorney John Martin said he hopes his client will be released from jail Wednesday following his detention hearing so he can return to studying.

Buddhi told investigators he posted the message, along with other derogatory messages aimed at the president, but Martin said Buddhi’s actions should be covered by the First Amendment since Buddhi would have never actually carried out his threats.

In the various messages posted, Buddhi urged the Web site’s readers to bomb the United States and for them to rape American and British women and mutilate them, according to court documents. Other messages called for the killing of all Republicans.

“What was allegedly said certainly is derogatory and may be inflammatory,� Martin said. “But there’s no real serious threat more than it was chat on the Web.�

Buddhi allegedly posted his messages on a Yahoo finance board dedicated to Sirius Satellite radio, a site that receives 2 million to 3 million hits a day, Martin said. A concerned citizen contacted the Secret Service office in Dallas to report that a subject was posting threatening messages about Bush, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hammond’s federal court and unsealed Monday.