Second Suspect in Bergen County Synagogue Attacks Plotted To Murder Local Officials

A second suspect in a string of anti Semitic attacks across Bergen County, Aakash Dalal, has been charged in relation to a plot to kill local officials, including the Bergen County prosecutor in the original case.

A man accused of trying to firebomb New Jersey synagogues is expected to be in court Friday to face new charges that he allegedly plotted to kill an assistant Bergen County prosecutor working on the case.

Aakash Dalal, 20, is charged with conspiring to kill Assistant Prosecutor Martin Delaney.

Since May, the FBI has been investigating Dalal after learning that he wanted to get a gun and kill Delaney once he was released from jail, officials said.

On Wednesday, investigators executed a search warrant on Dalal’s cell and found evidence of the plot, prosecutors said. They also found a list of “enemies” the suspect kept that included Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, according to authorities.

Dalal was due to be released from the Bergen County Jail this week after posting $1 million bail.

Dalal was charged in a attacks along with Anthony Graziano including an attack on a Rutherford congregation and its rabbi, who lived in the building. Prosecutors consider Dalal to be the teacher, with Graziano in the role of student.

The judge increased the bail on Dalal to $3 million from $1 million in light of the new charges. That's after an appellate court had reduced the bail from $2.5 million, believing that the original bail amount was excessive.

Prosecutors have said Dalal encouraged and advised Graziano, who is accused of firebombing a Rutherford synagogue and setting fire to a Paramus synagogue in January. Dalal and Graziano also have been accused of spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood in December.

The most serious attack came on Jan. 11, when Graziano allegedly hurled several Molotov cocktails into the living quarters of a Rutherford synagogue where a rabbi, his wife and five children were sleeping. The rabbi suffered burns on his hand, but no one else was injured.