It's easy to despair that America has become a police state. Examples of a politicized, weaponized system of justice seem to have exploded in recent times. Under these circumstances, it's astonishing to see that the same DOJ and FBI who raided the home of pro-life demonstrator Mark Houck, terrorizing his family in the process, have successfully tracked down, arrested, and prosecuted an Antifa terrorist who firebombed the office of a pro-life group. But credit where credit is due.
Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, was one of three people who vandalized and burned Wisconsin Family Action's office in Madison, Wis., on May 8, 2022. They smashed a window and tossed in Molotov cocktails, igniting a bookshelf, and spray-painted graffiti on the building exterior. The domestic terrorist group Jane's Revenge later took credit for the attack.
A claim of responsibility for the #Madison molotov attack was shared by a group calling themselves "Jane's Revenge"
— AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) May 10, 2022
It was shared via a trusted intermediary linking a Tor hidden service to left wing Bellingcat journo Robert Evans https://t.co/IPRa2tPfCG pic.twitter.com/bRULAxIhWY
"Madison police and fire departments were called to the office of Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) around 6 a.m. on Sunday after a passer-by reported smoke coming from the building," I reported at the time. "The flames were extinguished and thankfully, no one was injured. Investigators found a smashed window and at least one molotov cocktail that had failed to ignite. A fire inside the office burned books and damaged furnishings. Additionally, the building exterior was covered with spray-painted graffiti, including the anarchy symbol (an A inside a circle, also used by Antifa), the anti-police tag “1312” (which stands for ACAB — All Cops Are Bastards), and the threatening phrase, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”
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The DOJ Office of Public Affairs recently gave more details of the damage on its website:
On Sunday, May 8, 2022, at approximately 6:06 a.m., law enforcement responded to an active fire at an office building located in Madison. 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.” During the investigation, law enforcement collected DNA from the scene of the attack.
The attack was one of many that occurred after the Supreme Court's draft Dobbs decision was leaked in May 2022. Conservatives despaired as the Biden administration seemed to be as uninterested in apprehending the terrorists as they were in enforcing federal law prohibiting protests at SCOTUS justices's homes. But in fact, there was still some fidelity to law enforcement in the DOJ.
Roychowdhury came onto investigators' radar following a separate incident in which graffiti was sprayed at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Authorities tracked the suspects' vehicle, which led them to the house in which the biochemistry student lived. In March of this year, local police recovered a bag containing Roychowdhury's half-eaten burrito from a trashcan and collected enough DNA to match to what they had collected at the crime scene. The domestic terrorist was arrested not long afterward at Boston's Logan Airport, where he was planning to board a flight to Guatemala City.
And not only was this guy arrested, he was held and prosecuted with federal charges. And now, Roychowdhury has pled guilty to "attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive," according to the DOJ.
It's heartwarming enough that the prosecution secured a guilty plea from this punk, but check out the list of resources that went into tracking him down and bringing him to justice:
The charge against Roychowdhury is the result of an investigation by the Madison Police Department, Wisconsin State Capitol Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations and Dane County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the FBI Boston Field Office, Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshal Service and Transportation Security Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman for the Western District of Wisconsin and Trial Attorney Justin Sher of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Beck for the District of Massachusetts handled the defendant’s appearance in Boston following his arrest.
With his guilty plea, Roychowdhury faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years and as many as 20. A federal judge will decide the duration of his prison stay on Feb. 14 — Valentine's Day — next year.
So the next time it seems like leftist goons get away with everything while conservative protestors get the jackboot treatment, remember that, occasionally, radical left thugs get caught and punished, too.
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