A man was arrested today in Wisconsin on charges stemming from an arson attack on a Madison area office building in May of 2022.
Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, is charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by fire or explosives, according to court documents. Earlier today, Boston police made an arrest for Roychowdhury.
At 6:06 a.m. on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2022, law enforcement was called to a fire at a Madison, Wisconsin office building. A broken mason jar with a blackened lid and screw top was found by police officers once they gained access to the building through a damaged window. A purple disposable lighter was also located close to the mason jar by the police. The police noticed another sealed mason jar with a burned blue cloth tucked into the top of the wall opposite the window. A transparent liquid with an explosive odor filled about half of the jar. Someone spray painted “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” on one of the building’s exterior walls, and an “A” with a circle and the number “1312” on the other. Police took DNA samples at the crime scene to aid in the investigation.
Roychowdhury was pinned as a suspect in March of 2023. Officers in Roychowdhury’s community saw him throw away food in a public trash can; they later found and retrieved the food and other items, and took DNA samples from them.
In a press release dated March 17, 2023, law enforcement officials said that a forensic biologist had compared DNA evidence found at the scene of the attack to that found in the stolen food. A forensic biologist determined that the two specimens came from the same person because of their similarities.
Roychowdhury bought a one-way ticket from Boston to Guatemala City, which was scheduled to leave that morning. Additionally, he took a trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Portland, Maine in March of 2023. Roychowdhury was taken into custody by the police at Boston’s Logan Airport. There will be a detention hearing for Roychowdhury in Boston.
Presently, Roychowdhury will be making an appearance in the United States District Court in Boston on March 28, 2023.
His upcoming appearance in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin has not yet been scheduled.
