Indian settled in Canada goes to US to divorce wife, gets stuck in US jail - An ordeal with FBI
Sachdeva is an Indian settled in Canada. He went to New York in early October 2001 to finalise his divorce from his wife, an American who owns a gas station in New York. He went to the FBI office at their invitation Dec 9, 2001 where he was politely questioned by two agents. Ten days later 30 or 40 armed agents barged into the house he was staying in and took him away. At the FBI's offices, they shackled his legs to a steel bench and interrogated him for four to five hours, never offering him a call to his family or lawyer, he said.
They asked him if he had ever taken flight training or used a flight simulator. He told them no. They also asked if he was a practicing Hindu and what he thought about the people behind the Sept 11 attack. Sachdeva thinks it was just after midnight when he was driven in a police van to the Passaic County Jail, where he was strip-searched and put in a cell with dozens of inmates. He was forced to sleep on the cold floor and given no toothbrush. In the jail, dogs were used to intimidate him. He remained in jail till April 17, 2002, when he was driven straight to an airport and, in handcuffs, put on a flight to Toronto, with no money. He got his passport back, but has not seen his Canadian driver's license and medical insurance card.
Sachdeva has now claimed compensation and an apology from the FBI.