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Indian Origin Man Arrested For Crashing Truck Near White House, Says He Wanted to Kill Biden

Nineteen-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula said he wanted to “get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation”.
Sai Varshith Kandula, 19. Photo: @PaulaVasan

New Delhi: A man of Indian origin was arrested in Washington D.C. after he drove a rented box truck into the security barriers near the White House on Monday night, NBC News reported. He allegedly told the authorities that he admires Nazis and wanted to “seize power” and “kill the president”, the report said. 

Nineteen-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula rented a U-Haul truck on Monday after flying from Missouri’s St. Louis to Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. ‘on a one-way ticket’, according to a statement of facts filed in federal district court in the US capital, the NBC News report said.

He is expected to be charged with ‘threatening to kill a president, a vice president or a family member; assault with a dangerous weapon; reckless operation of a motor vehicle and trespassing,’ NBC News reported. 

According to the report, Kandula also allegedly told the authorities that he had been planning the attack for six months and detailed the plans in a “green book,” adding that Kandula identifies Hitler as a “strong leader”. 

No explosives or weapons were found in the truck or with Kandula, who had rented the U-Haul in Herndon, Virginia. He had a valid contract in his own name, the company said, according to an Indian Express report. People can rent a truck from U-Haul at age 18, and there were no red flags on his rental record that could have prevented the contract from being issued, the report said.

FBI agents were seen entering and leaving Kandula’s home in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield on Tuesday. Police in Chesterfield have no records of any interaction with Kandula or calls for service to the family home, Capt. Daniel Dunn told NBC News.

Federal agents are in charge of the investigation, the report said.

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