No motive yet for Shayam Sridhar’s act.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American man from Edison, New Jersey, Shayam Sridhar, 21, has been charged with setting fire to a hallway and a classroom in the Allison Road classroom building at Rutgers University in Piscataway last week.
Sridhar was charged with second-degree aggravated arson after he allegedly set fire to a 30-foot section of the hallway and an adjoining classroom on the second floor earlier this month, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey, reported NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.
Sridhar had been a student at Rutgers, but left in the fall term, Carey said. He was set to return to Rutgers in the spring 2015 semester.
Sridhar was charged after authorities identified him “from a photo obtained during the investigation,” Carey’s office said.
“I commend the efforts of the local law enforcement agencies that coordinated their efforts to apprehend the defendant,” Carey said in a news release. “These agencies include the Rutgers Police Department, the Edison Police Department, and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. These dedicated members of law enforcement spent time away from their own families and friends, in order to protect and serve our citizens during the holidays.”
Bail was set at $75,000 and Sridhar was being held at Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick, reported Media.
Police did not disclose a motive in the Busch Campus fire. The blaze, which was extinguished by the overhead sprinkler system, caused $250,000 in damage, according to Carey.
Nobody was injured in the fire, but it forced the evacuation of 210 students who were taking a final exam in a first-floor auditorium, Carey said.