In some ways the man hunt for the Boston Bombers resembles more the bumbling of Indian Police rather than a professional, thorough, analysed one by FBI. For in India we are used to leaks about almost everything on an investigation.
Back home, almost every aspect of the investigation, any investigation, is somehow leaked to the media - especially TV channels. People learn the names of victims through TV channels and not through a polite, sympathetic official call.
But in Western democracies, it has been an etiquette not to name the victims of crime publicly. Similarly, some privacy is afforded to ‘persons of interest’ or even ‘suspects’ in an investigation, till they are charged.
All those privacy issues went for a six in the case of Sunil Tripathi, who all of a sudden became a suspect and a reviled terrorist, because of some desktop investigator.
I say ‘desktop’ investigators because, Sunil Tripathi, of Indian origin as the name suggests, was first suggested as a suspect on Reddit, and later by the Twitter account of one Kami Mattioli, who knew the college student when he was in high school (she has since apologised, poor thing).
But just about an hour before this post, NBC News and AP reported that the 2 suspects are in fact of Chechen origin. In a shootout one brother, the elder, died and has been identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, born in Russia. Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 20 (or 19) is the other surviving suspect who is right now on the run in Boston area.
update (from CNN) almost 6 hours later: Tamerlan Tsarnaev was wearing explosives and a triggering device when he died, a source briefed on the investigation told CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
So much for desktop detectives. Poor Sunil Tripathi and his family.
Here is the FBI released photo of the suspected Boston Bombers, now identified as probably Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Back home, almost every aspect of the investigation, any investigation, is somehow leaked to the media - especially TV channels. People learn the names of victims through TV channels and not through a polite, sympathetic official call.
But in Western democracies, it has been an etiquette not to name the victims of crime publicly. Similarly, some privacy is afforded to ‘persons of interest’ or even ‘suspects’ in an investigation, till they are charged.
All those privacy issues went for a six in the case of Sunil Tripathi, who all of a sudden became a suspect and a reviled terrorist, because of some desktop investigator.
I say ‘desktop’ investigators because, Sunil Tripathi, of Indian origin as the name suggests, was first suggested as a suspect on Reddit, and later by the Twitter account of one Kami Mattioli, who knew the college student when he was in high school (she has since apologised, poor thing).
But just about an hour before this post, NBC News and AP reported that the 2 suspects are in fact of Chechen origin. In a shootout one brother, the elder, died and has been identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, born in Russia. Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 20 (or 19) is the other surviving suspect who is right now on the run in Boston area.
update (from CNN) almost 6 hours later: Tamerlan Tsarnaev was wearing explosives and a triggering device when he died, a source briefed on the investigation told CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
So much for desktop detectives. Poor Sunil Tripathi and his family.
Here is the FBI released photo of the suspected Boston Bombers, now identified as probably Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
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