Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the December 5, 2001 edition of U.S.
1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Niksun CEO Arrested
When police came to arrest Parag Pruthi on Friday,
November
30, a camera crew was parked in front of Pruthi’s Cornwall Road office
to do an interview about how his company had just made the top 100
list at Computerworld magazine. Instead, the crew filmed Pruthi’s
arrest. The president and CEO of Niksun Inc. was charged with
aggravated
criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint, and lewdness. He is free
on $50,000 bail.
Detective James Ryan of the South Brunswick Police Department is
investigating
the complaint from a 32-year-old female employee. Because Pruthi held
supervisory capacity over the alleged victim, the first charge was
aggravated criminal sexual contact, a third degree crime that carries
a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The second charge, criminal
restraint, is also a third degree crime, punishable by up to five
years. “The victim said she was restrained and that he made
unwanted
contact with various parts of her body,” says Ryan.
Other employees have been interviewed and several of Pruthi’s
conversations
were electronically monitored before the arrest was made. “We
realized the severity of the charge and the potential effect it could
have on the company, and we took extra precautions to establish
probable
cause,” says Detective Ryan. “We are trying to work with the
company to maintain its normal operation while the investigation goes
on and are hopeful that they will cooperate with the
investigation.”
“I credit this woman’s courage in coming forward; criminal sexual
contact is an underreported crime nationwide,” says Ryan. “She
questioned whether anyone would follow through on her concerns and
complaints. You have to think — what would push a victim to go
to a strange agency and discuss intimate details of such a traumatic
event and trust that she would get justice.”
John Sullivan of the Sterling Hager public relations firm says that
Niksun Inc. has “complete confidence in the legal system”
and that it would be premature to comment at this time. Efforts to
contact Pruthi’s attorney, Joseph Benedict of Benedict and Arnold
on Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, were not successful.
Pruthi grew up in New Delhi and Old Bridge; he went to Stevens
Institute,
Class of 1987, and has a master’s in computer science. He earned a
PhD in telecommunications from the Royal Institute of Technology in
Sweden. He was a frame relay expert at Bellcore and then started a
consulting firm, Qmetrix. Along with a couple of senior engineers,
he founded Niksun Inc. in 1997, naming the firm after his two sons
(U.S. 1, April 26, 2000).
Pruthi’s novel approach to networking is often described as
“visionary.”
With such clients as Morgan Stanley, Daimler Chrysler, and AT&T, his
firm offers non-intrusive network monitoring — monitoring that
can be used when tight security is needed, or merely when performance
levels need to be checked.
Located in a box that looks like a router, the products unobtrusively
gather information from the network and can work in a multi-vendor
environment. Among Niksun’s products is NetVCR, which does what a
VCR does in the home — record and play back later. Another
product,
Net Detector, is a next-generation non-intrusive Internet monitoring
and response program. Each of the products costs from $15,000 to
$70,000,
and the consulting services that go with them range from $100,000
to $1 million. Pennsylvania Power & Light and Roseland-based Hamilton
Scientific are among the buyers for these products.
Founded in 1997, Niksun doubled its headcount in New Jersey in less
than one year and now has more 100 employees in two offices, one on
Cornwall Road and the other on North Center Drive. It also has 80
employees at sites in Santa Jose, California, and Gurgaon, India.
The company recently received $27 million in second round financing,
led by California-based Redwood Ventures, and had talked of going
public. Pruthi predicted revenues of $20 million this year.
Three or four months may elapse before Pruthi’s case is presented
to a grand jury, says Detective Ryan. Asked whether this case could
be settled out of court, Ryan would only say that the potential always
exists: “Police cannot control all the variables that occur, in
any particular case, between an arrest and a trial.”
— Barbara Fox
Niksun Inc., 111 North Center Drive, NorthBrunswick08902. Parag Pruthi, president and CEO. 732-821-5000; fax,732-821-6000.Home page: www.niksun.comTop Of PageExpansions: TAH IndustriesTAH Industries Inc., 8 Applegate Drive,Robbinsville08691. Terry A. Horner, president. 609-259-9222; fax, 609-259-0957.Home page: www.tah.comTAH Industries doubled its space with a move to 87,000 square feet,a new Matrix Development facility on Applegate Drive. Employing about100 people, this 25-year-old family-owned firm is the leadingmanufacturerin the United States for motionless mixers and cartridge systems usedin a wide variety of industries — automotive, pharmaceutical,food, waste water treatment, and dentistry, to name a few.Terry Horner is president, and his wife Anne Marie is the vicepresident.With the move, they consolidated operations from three buildings at107 North Gold Drive and opened a lab for product and adhesivetesting.The company also has a division in Rushden, Northhamptonshire, GreatBritain.For motionless or “static” mixers, two components are pushedthrough a nozzle. Dentists use them for dental materials; Breyer’sand TCBY use them to mix ice creams and yogurts; and road constructioncrews use them to make stripes on the road. Robots can also use thesecartridge-style dispensing guns.American Re Corporation, 555 College Road East,Box 5241, Princeton 08543-5241. Edward J. Noonan, president, CEO.609-243-4200; fax, 609-243-4257. Home page: www.amre.comThe reinsurance company has signed a lease for 40,000 square feetat 150 College Road West, in the Patrinely Group’s building.Top Of PageNew in TownLiberty Communications Network Inc., 50 MillstoneRoad, Windsor Corporate Park, Suite 110, East Windsor 08520.609-918-9400;fax, 609-918-9411. Home page: www.medicalcrossfire.comThis 11-person medical education company moved from Freehold to EastWindsor. It offers debates, dinner meetings, teleconferences, audioand video programming. The company’s Medical Crossfire journalhas a circulation of about 91,000 primary care physicians.Travel Goods Association, 5 Vaughn Drive, Suite105, Princeton Junction 08540. Rob Holmes, director of professionaland administrative services. 609-720-1200; fax, 609-720-0620. Homepage: www.travel-goods.orgFormerly known as the Luggage and Leather Goods Manufacturers ofAmerica,the Travel Goods Association had been located in the heart of thegarment district, in the Empire State Building. Citing the new focuson an expanded membership (any products relating to the travelindustry)and the “spiraling cost of operating in New York,” it movedto Vaughn Drive. On its web page, the trade group carefully noteshow the proximity of its office to the Princeton Junction trainstation.Top Of PageManagement MovesShuttle America, Trenton Mercer Airport, WestTrenton08628. Dave Greso, station supervisor. 888-999-3273; fax,609-452-7978.Home page: www.shuttleamerica.comScott L. Durgin is the president of the reorganized Shuttle America.He replaces CEO David Hackett and Barry Lutin, the president, andthey are among the main investors in the financially troubledfive-year-oldairline. private equity group, Wexford Capital of Greenwich,Connecticut,has received permission from bankruptcy court to buy the airline onFriday, December 7.”It’s a chance to run the whole show,” Durgin was quoted assaying. He is a former vice president of customer service with MesabaAviation in Minneapolis. Shuttle America’s three planes fly underthe name of U.S. Airways now. Shuttle America has $23.2 million inaccumulated debt. It is the 10th airline to fly out of Mercer CountyAirport; it currently has flights to Philadelphia and to HanscombField, near Boston.Top Of PageContracts AwardedFrontLine Technologies Inc., 3131 Princeton Pike,Building 4, Suite 201, Lawrenceville 08648. Kris Subramaniam,principal.609-912-0004; fax, 609-912-0307. Home page:www.frontlinetech.comFrontline Technologies has made an alliance with Enterprise TechnologySolutions in Horsham, Pennsylvania. Frontline will provide a planningservice called Joint Application Development that identifies potentialproblem areas early in the software development process.With 40 employees, Frontline installed a mission critical E-servicesystem for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, a 400-person agencyfunded by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging (www.pcaphl.org). Ithas such clients as Rohm & Haas, Comcast Cable, FMC, and Toys ‘R Us.Frontline is five years old and ETS was founded more than 20 yearsago.Top Of PageLeaving TownIntegro Services Inc., 200 Cottontail Lane,Somerset08873. 732-748-1200; fax, 732-748-9363. Home page:www.integrostaffing.comIn November the staffing company consolidated and moved its officefrom 3120 Princeton Pike to Somerset. In addition to office support,it works with scientific, technical, IT and executive placements.Besides the headquarters in Parsippany, there is a second branch inIselin.Cambridge Hydrodynamics Inc., Box 1403, Princeton08543-1403. Reba Orszag, president. 609-683-1515; fax, 609-897-9745.Cambridge Hydrodynamics has moved from Princeton Meadows Office Centerat 666 Plainsboro Road and is no longer located in Plainsboro, buta company spokesperson says mail can be sent to the post office boxand declined further comment. The company’s projects have includedsimulation of combustion of liquid fuel rockets and advancedturbomachinerydesign.Chemunex Inc., 1 Deer Park Drive, PrincetonCorporatePlaza, Monmouth Junction 08852. Pascal Yvon, president. 732-329-1153;fax, 732-329-1192. Www.chemunex.comThe sales office of Chemunex Inc. has closed, and calls about itschemical and reagent products are being taken by K&R Technologies,at 97H Monocacy Boulevard, Frederick, Maryland 21701 (800-396-4275).Chemunex has rapid and ultra-sensitive alternative methods formicrobiologistsin the pharmaceutical, biotech, food and cosmetic industries.This office used to be known as Micromation. Arrangements betweenChemunex and K&R are being negotiated.Top Of PageDeathsAlexander Kirichenko, 45, on November 28. He was adistributionmanager for Crest Ultrasonics on Scotch Road.Raymond W. Reich, 63, on November 30. He worked forPrincetonRadiology and with his wife had owned the Jan-Ray Deli on Route 206.Carl Lawrence Danbury, 74, on November 30. He was aninsurancebroker and agent for the Gandelman Agency on Whitehead Road.Michael John Beaumont, 24, on December 1. He worked forBesam Automated Entrance Systems on Twin Rivers Drive.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
