Mar. 16—The India Palace restaurant in downtown Santa Fe is closed. Police say their investigation of who vandalized the business remains open.

That's about all they're saying 21 months after the headline-grabbing crime rattled the city.

"The FBI investigation you refer to is ongoing so I cannot provide details," bureau spokesman Frank Fisher wrote in an email.

Interim Santa Fe police Chief Paul Joye was a bit more expansive.

"We were the lead agency. We got to the point that we weren't able to rule out that people associated with the restaurant could be involved. We decided it would be better if we let the FBI handle it," Joye said in an interview.

What little information investigators provide only heightens interest in the case. In this news-hungry town, readers phone or write me a few times every month to ask about the crimes at India Palace and what's being done to solve them.

Most of their questions touch on a few broad themes: Was it an attack on a minority-owned business, or an inside job for financial gain, such as insurance proceeds? Why is it taking so long for law enforcement agencies to find the answers?

Joye, one of two finalists to become Santa Fe's full-fledged police chief, told me it's a painstaking investigation.

"There's a lot of information and detail that goes into these cases, and we want to get it right," he said.

Fisher offered a generic overview. "Be assured the FBI is working diligently on this case alongside the Santa Fe Police Department," he wrote in his message.

One businessperson who's not employed by India Palace spoke to the FBI after being contacted by agents.

"It sounded like an insurance fraud investigation, not a hate crime," the person told me of the conversation with the FBI.

Calls to the restaurant owner, Baljit Singh, have gone unanswered. The phone number of a supervisor at the restaurant was no longer in service.

A few internet sites, including India Palace's Facebook page, list the restaurant as permanently closed. Another website devoted to restaurants states India Palace is closed temporarily.

India Palace, 227 Don Gaspar Ave., was locked Tuesday. A phone number listed for the establishment rings but always connects to an answering machine. The robotic voice that invites messages makes no reference to India Palace.

The restaurant reopened for a time after the vandalism, filling takeout and delivery orders. Staff members said dining inside was not possible. Furniture wrecked by the criminals had not been replaced.

With the restaurant shuttered, perhaps for good, questions from Santa Fe residents have escalated.

"What's going on? Did the city effectively deal with the issues over many months?" one reader asked in a message to me.

Another who phoned wondered why the case is taking so long with the might of the federal government behind the investigation.

Whoever committed the crimes inside India Palace on June 22, 2020, didn't want to be subtle. Among the words spray-painted in ugly scrawl were "white power" and "Go back to your country."

Another message was mixed in with racial taunts splashed on the walls. "Trump 2020," it stated.

Almost from the start, any number of people wondered if bigoted statements and the mention of a president who was unpopular in Santa Fe were diversionary tactics.

Did criminals with a motive other than wanton destruction of a restaurateur's property stage a scene while smashing the place?

India Palace had operated in peace at the same location since 1991, though its ownership changed over the years. A two-minute walk from the Plaza, the restaurant is tucked toward the back of a vast parking lot. It's an area with plenty of potential witnesses for criminals to worry about, especially in summertime.

Yet someone was able to enter the business and wreck the interior without detection.

As the investigation heads toward its two-year anniversary, questions keep coming. There's no way of knowing if FBI agents are stuck or closing in on the criminals. They're not talking.

Santa Fe residents and patrons of India Palace have more to say, all the while hoping the FBI unravels the case.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.