Indian-origin IT executive dies after being assaulted in US

Washington: A 41-year-old Indian-origin IT executive has died after suffering life-threatening injuries during an assault outside a restaurant in the American capital here, the seventh death of an Indian or Indian-American in the country in recent months.

The victim, identified as Vivek Taneja, a resident of Alexandria, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC, was attacked on February 2 in the 1100 block of 15th Street NW, which is seven blocks away from the White House.

The police reached the assault scene at 2 am and found that he was suffering from life-threatening injuries as a result of the assault. He was transported to a trauma centre unconscious and with severe head injuries.

“On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, the victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead,” said the Metropolitan Police, Washington DC in a statement on Friday.

The picture of the suspect captured by a surveillance camera has been released by the police, which has offered an award of up to USD25,000 to anyone who provides information and leads to his arrest.

No arrest has been made so far.

In its report, the police said Vivek Taneja was knocked to the ground by the suspect and hit his head on the pavement.

Taneja, the police said, had an altercation with another man at Shoto and Akedo, two sister Japanese restaurants in the Midtown Center building.

Taneja was the co-founder and president of Dynamo Technologies, a technology solutions and analytics product provider to the federal government.

According to the company website, Taneja led Dynamo’s strategic, growth, and partnership initiatives, with an emphasis on the federal government contracting arena.

A systems engineer by training, he led numerous technical consulting engagements across the public and private sectors.

Taneja received his B.A. in Economics and Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Virginia, his M.S. in Telecommunications from George Mason University, and his D.Eng. in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering from George Washington University.

Earlier this week, Syed Mazahir Ali, an Indian student was attacked by robbers in Chicago.

Earlier, 25-year-old Indian student Vivek Saini was fatally attacked in Georgia state’s Lithonia city by a homeless drug addict.

Last week, a student at the Lindner School of Business in the US state of Ohio identified as 19-year-old Shreyas Reddy Beniger was found dead. However, local authorities have ruled out foul play.

Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana on February 5.

Another Indian student, identified as Neel Acharya at Purdue University, Indiana, was confirmed dead days after being reported missing on January 28.

Akul B Dhawan, an 18-year-old at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was found dead last month with signs of hypothermia.