Man who crashed truck into security barricades near White House is of Indian origin 

The man who was seen driving a rented box truck into security barriers near the White House on Monday night has been identified as 19-year-old Indian-origin Sai Varshith Kandula. Kandula was detained by the Secret Service. The US Park Police said in a statement that Kandula faces several charges including threatening to kill, kidnap, or inflict harm on US President Joe Biden, vice president, or a family member. Kandula belongs to the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield in Missouri.  

The police further said no weapons were found inside the truck and that the crash caused no injuries. A Nazi Swastika flag and other objects were, however, recovered from the truck. Joe Biden’s exact location at the time of the crash is not known yet. Biden met Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy at the White House on Monday evening.  

An Indian-origin man from Missouri flew to Washington DC, rented a U-Haul truck and drove straight to the White House. On the way, he crashed the truck into security barricades near the north side of the Lafayette Square.  

After this, Kandula removed a Nazi flag from his backpack and started waving it at the end of a six-month plan to “seize power” from the Biden government. He was quickly arrested by an officer who spotted him take out the flag and the area was sealed off soon after.  

He told the Secret Service agents he flew from St Louis on a one-way ticket that night after months of planning. The police charges say he wanted to “get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation” and claimed he would “kill the President if that’s what I have to do”. 

The accused rented the U-Haul in Herndon in Virginia and had a valid contract in his own name, India Today reported. Kandula confessed to buying the Nazi flag online as he admires their history, authoritarian nature, arranging reproduction within a human population to increase occurrence of desirable characteristics, and one world order.  

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