Former Rutgers Student Indicted On Attempted Murder, Arson Charges

A former Rutgers student has been indicted on attempted murder and arson charges after authorities say he set fire to a campus building, endangering the 206 people who were inside.

The grand jury handed up the 10-count indictment against Shayam Sridhar, 21, of Edison on Thursday, charging him with six counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated arson and one count each of causing widespread injury or damage and criminal mischief.

He is accused of setting a fire at the Allison Road Classroom (ARC) Building at 618 Allison Road on the Busch Campus in Piscataway on December 20, 2014, as some students were taking a final exam, according to a news release from Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.

The indictment charges that he “purposely attempted to cause the deaths of a student who was studying on the second floor, as well as a professor and four proctors who were monitoring the test as it was being administered on the first floor,’’ the news release said.

No one was injured, but repair and clean-up costs from fire totaled $250,000, authorities said.

According to the news release:

Sridhar had been a Rutgers student, but left during the fall term last year.

Sridhar was charged five days after the blaze, after Edison Officer David Tingle identified him from a photo obtained during the investigation.

Investigators determined Sridhar set fire to a 30-­foot section of a hallway and an adjoining classroom on the second floor of the ARC Building just after 1 p.m. that day.

“The flash fire set off an alarm, forcing the evacuation of 206 people, including students who were taking a final exam in a first­-floor auditorium located beneath the burning hallway,” the news release said.

An overhead sprinkler system extinguished the fire, which damaged portions of the hallway and the classroom, authorities said.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Todd Giese of the Rutgers University Police Department and Detective Todd O’Malley of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain presented the case to the grand jury.