IIT alumnus Buddhi sentenced to 57 months in jail

Indian Institute of Technology alumnus Vikram Buddhi was on Friday sentenced to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for posting hate messages in 2006 to the then President George W Bush.

Buddhi, who was arrested in 2006, was sentenced by senior Judge James T Moody after being convicted of making threats to Bush, the then Vice President Dick Cheney and their wives, and calling for bombings of US infrastructure.

The 38-year-old Phd student of Purdue University, will have to spend an additional three years under "supervised release" under the supervision of a probation officer, the court said.

He can though appeal the sentence in a Chicago court within 10 days of this judgment. Since he has already been in prison since April 2006, the months are likely to be deducted from his sentence term.

Buddhi, who represented himself during the sentence hearing after firing his lawyer, said earlier that he was given the short end of the stick, and claimed the trial had been unfair.

Before the sentencing Buddhi submitted to the judge that he had got "ineffective assistance" of the counsel and said it was the "gravest error of justice".