Vikram S. Buddhi (born May 10, 1971) is an Indian

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementa ...

and

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Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

who was convicted in 2007 for making death threats online against

United States president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, and

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Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...

. He was imprisoned for 4 years and 9 months, and deported to India upon his release.

Biography

Buddhi was born to Syamala Buddhi and Captain Buddhi K Subbarao in 1971. His father was a senior

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

with the

Indian navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

who had been tried for leaking naval

secrets Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

in 1988. He was acquitted in 1993 after the alleged leaked secrets were revealed to be his own Ph.D. thesis, a publicly available document.

Trial

Buddhi posted messages on a

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business

discussion forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

in December 2005 and January 2006, calling upon the people of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

to retaliate against the Iraq

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

and kill President

, Vice President

and their spouses. Buddhi's lawyer

Somnath Bharti Somnath Bharti (born 10 May 1974) is an Indian lawyer who has become a politician representing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). As a lawyer, he practised at the Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court. He was elected as the AAP candidate for the ...

alleged that the

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...

did not mention any of the alleged charges and the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tri ...

failed to establish Buddhi as the author of the messages. Buddhi had hacked the Yahoo accounts of thousands of Purdue University Students, then used those hacked stolen IDs to spread anti-Bush and anti-war messages across Yahoo's Discussion Boards, using a

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. Buddhi was sentenced in 2007 to 4 years, 9 months in prison.

Reaction

Buddhi received support from the alumni and staff of several

IITs The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Insti ...

, who joined with his father and lobbied for his release. He also received support from

External Affairs Minister The Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister, in Hindi ''Videsh Mantri'' ) is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsib ...

, SM Krishna and former U.S. president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

External links

Dr. Buddhi Kotasubbarao, "Roxana Saberi And Vikram Buddhi – Compel A Comparison", 21 April 2009, countercurrents.org

''Buddhi v. USA,'' Motion to Vacate / Correct Illegal Sentence, filed 15 April 2013, Indiana Northern District Court

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddhi, Vikram IIT Bombay alumni Purdue University alumni 1971 births Living people People from Delhi

Biography

Trial

Reaction

See also

External links

References