Morgan Hill – A 20-year-old college student from Morgan Hill was arrested early Sunday morning at Heinz Field, the stadium where the Pittsburgh Steelers play, after security officers at the field spotted them attempting to enter the stadium.
According to Tammy Ewin, public information officer for the Pittsburgh Police Bureau, Anand Durvasula was charged with alleged criminal conspiracy and criminal trespass. His companion, Sudeep Paul, 21, of New York was charged with alleged criminal conspiracy.
Both are being held in the Allegheny County Jail on $1 million bond.
The two are students at Carnegie Mellon University, living off campus in an area known as Squirrel Hill.
Ewin said security officers saw the two students, at approximately 1:48am, open a door at Gate B of the stadium, bud didn’t enter. They allegedly walked around the stadium, pointing at other areas, until reaching Gate 5, where they found a folding chair, and carried the chair as they walked around the exterior of the stadium. As the pair returned to Gate 5, Ewin said, Durvasula stepped on the chair and scaled the fence. Officers then approached the men, and they began to walk away but were quickly detained.
Their initial story to police, Ewin said, was that they are students and had tickets to the Steelers game later that day, and they were just checking out the stadium so they would know where to go for the game. The Lexus sport utility they arrived in was found parked nearby, containing a video camera and tripod.
Though four explosive detecting dogs were brought on to the scene, as well as officers from the joint Terrorism Task Force, no explosive devices were found.
The two men later told police that Paul is a film student who was in the final stages of completing a music video featuring Durvasula and had planned to film the last scene of the video on Heinz Field.
Druvasula attended Morgan Hill School District schools, but district officials said they could provide no further information.
He graduated from Saint Francis High School, a Catholic college prep school in San Jose, in May 2004. School officials confirmed his graduation date, but could not comment further.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
