A disquieting case of alleged terror-by-telephone has emerged from the quiet streets of Hillsborough, where a former resident stands accused of waging a campaign of violent threats against judges, an elected official, and a Somerset County neighbor—all from across the ocean.
Federal authorities unsealed a damning indictment against Abhinaba Barthakur, a 58-year-old dual U.S. and Indian citizen, painting a portrait of a man unhinged, his rage echoing from abroad into the halls of New Jersey’s justice system.
The charges are as shocking as they are specific: voicemails laced with promises of severed fingers, .22 caliber executions, and retaliatory bloodshed aimed at those who uphold the law.
The saga began in July 2020, prosecutors say, when Barthakur allegedly dialed the Somerville office of an unnamed New Jersey elected official. The message he left was not a complaint, not a plea—but a threat to assault the official and, with chilling specificity, “remove [their] fingers.”
Two months later, the same man reportedly turned his fury toward the Somerset County Courthouse, leaving voicemails for two Superior Court judges.
One judge was threatened with finger mutilation; the other, prosecutors claim, was warned they would “lose fingers” if they crossed Barthakur.
But the most harrowing allegations surfaced in 2023 and 2024. In October of last year, a Somerset County resident—identified only as “Victim 1″—allegedly received a voicemail from Barthakur vowing to “assault and murder” them with a .22 caliber handgun.
Weeks later, the threats escalated further: a federal judge in New Jersey’s District Court was reportedly targeted with the same firearm threat, this time with an added charge of retaliation for their judicial duties.
What makes this case all the more unsettling is Barthakur’s absence. Since December 2018, authorities say, he has remained outside the United States, launching these alleged threats from afar—an unsettling reminder of how borders offer little protection against digital menace.
Each of the five interstate threat charges carries a five-year maximum sentence; the retaliation count could land Barthakur a decade behind bars.
Yet the true cost is measured in the erosion of public trust. Judges in Somerset’s family and civil courts, a federal jurist, a local official, and a private citizen—all allegedly marked for violence by a voice on the phone.
The investigation, a multi-agency effort spanning the FBI, U.S. Marshals, Homeland Security, and local police, underscores the severity of the accusations.
Hillsborough Chief Mike McMahon and Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald’s teams worked alongside federal agents, tracing threats that stretched from New Jersey’s courthouses to an unknown overseas location.
For now, the indictment is an accusation, not a conviction. But the allegations alone strike at the heart of civic safety—an unnerving breach of the compact that keeps those who serve the law protected from those who would seek to silence them.
For Somerset County, where the echoes of these threats hit closest to home, the case is a grim reminder that justice, even in the suburbs, is never truly sheltered from those who wish it harm.