OLD BRIDGE — Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with an attack on a 49-year-old Old Bridge man and his two sons late Friday, authorities said today. The circumstances of the incident remain unclear and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office refused to disclose any details of what happened, which left the father badly beaten. Authorities did not release his...
OLD BRIDGE — Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with an attack on a 49-year-old Old Bridge man and his two sons late Friday, authorities said today.
The circumstances of the incident remain unclear and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office refused to disclose any details of what happened, which left the father badly beaten. Authorities did not release his name, but friends and neighbors identified him as Divyendu Sinha, a former college professor and consultant.
He remained in critical condition tonight at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, said Jim O’Neill, a spokesman for prosecutor’ office.
The suspects, all of whom are 17, have been charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, O’Neill said. Their names were not been released because of their ages.
Authorities said they received a 911 call around 11:30 p.m. Friday. When officers arrived, they found the victim on the ground outside his house on Fela Drive, a neighborhood of newer homes.
One of the suspects was arrested soon after. The other two were charged later Saturday, O’Neill said. Investigators have yet to determine a motive for the attack. O’Neill would not say whether any weapons were used or if the victim or his sons knew their attackers.
"I can’t believe this happened on our street," said Grace Santorelli, who lives next door to Sinhas’ two-story white house. "This is 100 percent unusual."
She described Sinha as an amiable neighbor. "He’s a very nice person," she said. "He wouldn’t be the type of person to get into any problems or give you a problem."
Prakash Waghmare, who said he has known Sinha for 10 years, called his friend "a very gentle person" who had earned his Ph.D. from Stevens Institute of Technology and worked for a time at the College of Staten Island. An author of several books on computer imaging, he had been working as a consultant to Siemens.
Waghmare could not think of why anyone would attack him. His sons were hit as well, but not badly hurt. "They were going for a walk. A car came by and they pounced on him," he said. "Nobody knows why this happened."
By Rohan Mascarenhas and Meredith Galante/The Star-Ledger
Staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.
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