Source: Reuters
On June 25, 2003 Reuters reported that "Massachusetts police filed hate crime charges on Wednesday against the second of what authorities say are four people who attacked a pizza delivery man because they apparently thought he was Muslim... The attack on Saurabh Bhalerao, a 24-year-old Hindu from India, began as a robbery but escalated into an attempted murder, investigators say... Bhalerao, who works for a pizza shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was beaten, tied up and gagged, burned with cigarettes and forced into the trunk of his car after he delivered a pizza in New Bedford on Sunday night, Souza said... The assailants drove Bhalerao in his car to the neighboring town of Fairhaven, where he freed himself from the trunk, grabbed a hammer and swung at one of his assailants who then stabbed the delivery man in the abdomen... Bhalerao remained hospitalized, Souza said. In addition to the stab wound and the cigarette burns, his jaw was broken... Police in Fairhaven and New Bedford have arrested three people in the attack and are seeking a fourth."