Someone threw a brick through the window of The Taj Mahal restaurant, located at 2247 N. High St. late Thursday night, said J.L. Kumar, who owns the Taj Mahal with his family.
No one was in the restaurant, which serves Indian and Pakistani cuisine, at the time of the incident.
The FBI is investigating the crime, Columbus Division of Police said. The Columbus FBI office was unavailable for comment.
“Unless the evidence directly supports that it is a hate crime or we find a suspect, then it cannot be regarded as a hate crime,” said Columbus Police spokesman Sgt. Earl Smith. “It is a little different because it is an ethnic restaurant.”
No suspects have been found, and the odds of finding one are slim, Smith said.
“We have a lot of acts of random violence in the city of Columbus, so it is difficult to say exactly what the motivation was of this crime,” Smith said.
Kumar would not comment on whether the incident was related to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Someone mentioned that the restaurant sign has the word “Pakistani” on it and could be a possible motivation, Kumar said.
“There is no difference, food-wise, between Pakistan and India,” Kumar said. “It was one country before 1947. And after that, the culture, the food, the religion were the same.”
The culprits caused $3,000 to $4,000 in damages, Kumar said. The damage included the sign, a window pane, a couple of table tops and some glasses, he said.
“I don’t know what happened,” Kumar said. “I can’t believe anybody would do this in the campus area. We have never had any problems.”
Kumar noticed the damage when he came to work Friday morning. He called the police and his insurance company, he said. His landlord fixed the window and sign the next day, Kumar said.
The Taj Mahal was open for business that morning and the incident will not stop him from remaining in business, Kumar said.
Taj Mahal opened in 1984 and was the first Indian restaurant to open in Columbus, Kumar said.
