Department of Justice

MADISON, WIS. - A federal grand jury in the Western District of Wisconsin, sitting in Madison, returned the following indictments today. You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Madison Man Indicted on Charge of Firebombing Building

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, Madison, Wisconsin, is charged with attempting to cause damage to a building by means of fire or an explosive. The indictment alleges that he did so on May 8, 2022. Roychowdhury was previously charged with this offense in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on March 27, 2023. Federal law requires that felony offenses charged by complaint be presented to a grand jury for indictment.

Roychowdhury was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts at Logan International Airport on March 28. He made an initial appearance in federal court in Boston that day. A detention hearing was held on March 30, and he was ordered held in custody. A date for his appearance in federal court in Madison has not been set.

If convicted, Roychowdhury faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The charge against him is the result of an investigation by the Madison Police Department; Wisconsin State Capitol Police Department; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force; Homeland Security Investigations; 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 of the Western District of Wisconsin and Trial Attorney Justin Sher of the Counterterrorism Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division are handling the prosecution.