Sitapur, the native town of slain CEO in US, mourns his death

Lucknow, Nov 16 (UNI) Shock waves gripped the small city of Sitapur, about 80 km from here, as thousands of people turned up at the residence of the younger brother of Sidh Agarwal, who was shot dead by a laid-off worker in San Francisco, last Friday.

As soon as the news spread, there was an unending stream of people at local businessman Pawan Agarwal's residence, who is finding it hard to believe that his brother, a technocrat of high order, met such a tragic end.

Sidh, about 57, was the Chief Executive Officer of a semiconductor company, SiPort, and was among the three who were killed by one Jing Hua Wu, an enginneer in the firm. Wu was laid off only four days ago and in a fit of rage, he opened fire at the CEO, along with others.

Sidh is survived by his wife and two sons aged 22 years and 18 years respectively.

''The economic recession may have hit the countries but as his brother, I would say that my family has been the worst sufferer,'' an emotionally shaken Pawan told UNI over phone from Sitapur.

He said the last rites of Sidh would take place at Sitapur and would be attended by some of his family. ''We will receive his body from police tomorrow,'' Pawan said.

The killer, meanwhile, had been arrested as told by Sidh's wife to his family members here in India.

Sidh had done his schooling from Sitapur before graduating from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. He was first offered a job in Intel company and had a distinction of inventing a new chip for dish TVs. He had entered into his own business about a decade ago that was flourishing till the economic recession, according to Pawan.

The impact of recession was not so hard that Sidh had to lose his life in such a manner, Pawan lamented. Pawan recalled fond memories of his brother as he had visited his place in 2006 on the occasion of his son's marriage.

Pawan cried uncontrollably while narrating the love of Sidh towards his country and family. Sidh used to visit India almost every two years and was firmly attached with his native roots.

He, in fact, had no qualms in stating that Sidh was always ready to help his family, whenever needed.

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