Religion of Peace member of the day: Aakash Dalal, the brains behind a string of attacks that terrorized the Bergen County, NJ, Jewish community

HACKENSACK (NJ.com) — Nineteen year old Aakash Dalal was the brains behind a string of attacks that terrorized the Bergen County Jewish community between December and January, police alleged on Friday.

Aakash Dalal, a Lodi resident and student at Rutgers University, is the second man arrested in connection to the attacks, which began as petty vandalism and took a violent turn with the firebombing of two synogogues last month.

Another 19-year-old Lodi man, Anthony M. Graziano, is accused of wielding the Molotov cocktails that were thrown into the window of the Congregation Beth El temple in Rutherford. But police say Dalal, Graziano's childhood friend, was behind the scenes, prodding him along.

Officials released excerpts of alleged instant message conversations between the two men recovered by a computer forensics expert with the Bergen County Prosecutor's office Friday. The often graphic exchanges offer a glimpse into what Molinelli described as a "student-teacher" relationship between Graziano, identified as "AG," and Dalal, identified as "AD."

In one such exchange, after a fire ignited behind the Congregation K'Hal Adath Jeshuran in Paramus fizzled out, the two allegedly express disappointment:

AD: Basically no damage. It did nothing. You haven't proven yourself.

AG: So how much damage would be acceptable?

AD: Serious damage. Or total burnage.

"Mr. Dalal was the teacher, and Mr. Graziano was the student," Molinelli told NJ.com on Friday. "And Mr. Dalal would tell Mr. Graziano what he had to do, as you saw in one of the slides, to satisfy the requirement."

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