WASHINGTON: FBI To Investigate Attack On Indian Restaurant In New Mexico

WASHINGTON: The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) has been roped in to investigate last year’s attack on a
popular Indian restaurant in Santa Fe, capital of the southern US state of New
Mexico.

In June
2020, unknown vandals damaged the kitchen, dining room, storage area and
spray-painted walls of the premises of the ‘India Palace’ with the words “Trump
2020” and racist remarks directed at the restaurant’s Sikh owners, causing
damage to the tune of $100,000, media reports said.

The
restaurant was purchased in 2013 by Baljit Singh, and run by his son Baljot,
according to Santafenewmexican.com.

Santa Fe
Police had labelled the incident as a hate crime directed towards the Indian
community in the vicinity.

However,
more than 16 months later, they are yet to press charges. Last week, the FBI
said that they were determined to bring to justice the culprits behind the
attack on the India Palace restaurant.

“This
crime has attracted considerable local and national attention,” Special Agent
in Charge Raul Bujanda of Albuquerque FBI Division said.

“I want
to thank the Santa Fe Police Department for all the work they have done on this
case. We are determined to find whoever is responsible for what happened at the
India Palace and bring them to justice,” he added.

“The
Santa Fe Police Department is grateful for all of the assistance we’ve received
from the FBI throughout the course of this investigation,” Deputy Chief Paul
Joye said.

“We are
committed to continuing our work with the FBI, to ensure that the person or
persons responsible for this vandalism are brought to justice,” he said.

Based
upon information gathered during the investigation, the Santa Fe Police have
not ruled out that persons associated with the restaurant may have been
involved in the damage that occurred, the FBI said in a news release.

 The India Palace attack has been
widely condemned across the US, and it had come amid a wave of racial attacks
and protests in the country last year, following the death of George Floyd, a
Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.