Dr. Divyendu Sinha of Old Bridge, NJ killed in brutal attack while taking a walk near his home

Namaste. It is with a very heavy heart and profound grief that we share with you the news of brutal beating and resulting death of Dr. Divyendu Sinha of Old Bridge, NJ. By now many of you may have heard, read or seen the news on TV.

Dr. Divyendu Sinha was husband of Alka Sinha, a Life Member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. He was a brilliant technocrat who earned his B. Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology. He was working for Siemens Corporation.

Divyenduji, his wife Alkabahen and children, Ashish (16 years) and Ravi (12 years) had stepped out of their home to take a late night stroll on Friday, June 25 in a perfectly safe neighborhood where they have lived for sixteen years. This is a neighborhood where people do not lock front doors and cars are left unlocked in driveways. As they were returning back and were near their home around mid night, a car full of five teenagers (two Caucasians, three African Americans) pulled up; the driver stayed in the car and rest of them came from behind and attacked Divyenduji and his two sons. He was hit on the temple, he fell down and hit his head on the pavement. The attacker(s) continued to kick him on the head and neck. After the attack they escaped in the car. Divyenduji was able to get up so they tried to walk him to their home. However, after walking a few yards, he collapsed. At that point his son ran to nearby house and the neighbor came out and called 911. He was transported to nearby Raritan Bay Hospital. At that time (around 12:30 A. M.) he was able to answer questions like his name, birth date, etc. though his speech had begun to slur. He could not raise his left hand but was able to raise right hand. Soon after he became unconscious and by 4:00 A. M. he was transferred to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. This hospital has excellent reputation. The children had bruises, swollen jaw, neck pain, etc. but they were treated at the hospital and released.

According to the neurosurgeon who briefed us, by the time Divyenduji reached there, damage was done. There was severe cranial bleeding in the brain and brain had swelled so much that it had compressed brain stem which had affected all vital functions adversely. The brain had also shifted because of tremendous pressure within the enclosed chamber. According to the doctor, the compression of the stem is an irreversible process. One thing that was disturbing was that this surgeon had not looked at the reports from the first hospital and was not even sure if the reports and scans had accompanied the patient. He was not even aware of the fact that Divyenduji had been beaten up. He said that the bleeding had a pattern of a stroke but when we asked pointed questions, he admitted that the stroke was likely the result of the beating and trauma caused by it. VHPA volunteers from Staten Island and New Jersey chapters as well Divyenduji's neighbors and friends had reached the hospital and were there throughout the two and a half day ordeal. Dr. Ila Sukhadia, President of Staten Island Chapter insisted on receiving a copy of all CAT scans and having received them shared it with three outside specialists. Sadly, they concurred with the diagnosis that nothing could be done to save Divyendubhai's life. Divyendubhai's younger brother, Purnendu and Alkabahen's younger brother, Alok were able to catch a flight out of Bharat upon receiving the news and reached the hospital on Sunday afternoon. While Divyenduji remained on life support, we all hoped for a miracle and continued to do chanting and prayers in his ICU room.

on Monday and at 4:00 A. M. Doctors declared that Divyenduji life had ended. Thus all our hopes against hope were dashed. A life was snuffed out needlessly at prime age of 49.

The family decided to donate his kidneys so life support was continued. Finally at 4:30 P. M. on Monday, June 28, family and friends gathered around Divyenduji, lighted a lamp, put Gangajal and Tulsipatra in his mouth and amid chanting and recitation of sacred mantras, the body was moved to Operation room.

The funeral and cremation took place June 30th at Franklin Memorial Park in North Brunswick. Hundreds of friends, coworkers, relatives and people who had never met Divyenduji attended the ceremony with tearful eyes.

Prakash Waghmare, a member of NJ chapter, former Governing Council Member and Media liaison for New York and New Jersey, immediately alerted ethnic as well as mainstream media and also wrote to the mayor of Old Bridge. Response was tremendous; he was interviewed by the radio station 1010WIN, had a call from the mayor and on his recommendation, Channel 7, WABC interviewed Dr. Ila Sukhadia, this interview was broadcast on Monday, June 28 evening.

Mr. Satyanarayan Dosapati, a community activist from Old Bridge has created a web site: http://justicefordivyendufamily.wordpress.com/ This web site has all the latest updates.

It is good to know that all five teenagers are now in police custody. Debate will go on about whether it was a random attack or one with racial overtones but the fact is that we have lost a colleague, a brilliant man and the family has lost everything. We urge all of you to help us put continued pressure on the police, prosecutors and politicians so that the case is not watered down, the guilty are punished to the fullest extent of law and such senseless attacks on innocent, law abiding citizens may be prevented.

We further seek your support as we help Alkabahen and her children put pieces of their life together; this will be a daunting task which will require long time commitment of genuine support- emotional, physical and financial. You can make a tax deductible donation here.

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