Meanwhile, Sunil Tripathi Is Still Missing

Brown University, via Associated Press A photo of Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, who was last seen on March 16 at the university campus.

NEW YORK CITY â€"In a bizarre twist in an ongoing mysterious yet tragic story, Sunil Tripathi, the 22-year-old Brown University student who has been missing since March 16, was one of America’s most wanted criminals for several hours early Friday, at least in the eyes of the media. The 6’2’’ 130-pound senior, who is from Radnor, Pa., and has an Indian father and an American mother, was falsely cited on social media as one of the Boston Marathon bombers before his name was cleared in connection with the attacks.

Tripathi disappeared from his Providence apartment last month without his wallet or cellphone, and hasn’t been heard from since.

India Ink spoke with Tripathi’s sister Sangeeta Friday evening about the sudden turn of events in her brother’s case. The 2004 Brown graduate said that speculation about her brother’s possible role in the attack started on Friday evening when visitors to the Facebook page the family had created to help find Sunil started questioning if he could have been involved in the bombings.

“We started seeing ridiculously speculative traffic,” she said. “We froze the page but monitored other social media sites and watched the horrible arc of events. The joke in our family has always been that whenever there is a little bug in our house, he picks it up and puts it outside because he doesn’t want to hurt the bug.”

The rumors first started when registered users of social news site Reddit speculated that Tripathi was the suspect with the white hat in the photos that the FBI released. Suspicion soon spread through thousands of tweets, retweets and blog posts after reports circulated that the Boston Police Department scanner had declared the missing undergraduate to be one of the bombers. Many of those tweets have since been deleted.

One blogger, Perez Hilton, tweeted that Tripathi was still on the run and believed to be armed with explosives, while the entertainment site Global Grind also said that he was a suspect and came from a “well-to-do family” and that “his father is a rich software engineer.” Your Anonymous News tweeted Tripathi’s name as one of the two bombers that the police had identified on the scanner.

A recording of the scanner, which The Atlantic embedded on its Web site along with an article that details how the accusations started, shows that Tripathi’s name was never mentioned. And within a few hours, the police officially released the names of the bombers - Chechnyan brothers Dzhokhar Tsarneav, who is now in custody, and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot dead by police earlier today.

After the real suspects were identified early Friday, Redditt apologized for its role in the firestorm. And on a Facebook page created by his family titled “Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi,” the post following the false reports said:

A tremendous and painful amount of attention has been cast on our beloved Sunil Tripathi in the past twelve hours. We have known unequivocally all along that neither individual suspected as responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings was Sunil. We are grateful to all of you who have followed us on Facebook, Twitter, and Redditâ€"supporting us over the recent hours. Now more than ever our greatest strength comes from your enduring support. We thank all of you who have reached out to our family and ask that you continue to raise awareness and to help us find our gentle, loving, and thoughtful Sunil.

Tripathi’s sister told India Ink her that family is very sad to see how quickly the accusations mounted against Sunil.

“The harm done to my family is profound and more profound than an apology later,” she said. “With that said, it is social media that has kept us going, and we need people to help us find Sunil.”

Brown University also addressed the controversy in an email that was sent to all parents of the student body on Friday.

“Overnight many false reports circulated regarding our community member Sunil Tripathi, wrote Margaret Klawunn, the vice president for campus life and student services. “Reports that he was a possible suspect in the Boston Marathon investigation were untrue and there is no connection between him and the events in Boston. Our thoughts are with the Tripathi family who have had to endure additional pain due to unfounded and irresponsible Internet rumors.”

The university released the following statement late Friday evening: “Our priority during this time has been supporting Sunil’s family and law enforcement officials in efforts to locate Sunil. We have communicated widely to engage the Brown community, Providence and the region in this effort. We will continue to follow the guidance of law enforcement on ways that we can help advance the search.” The email also stated that Tripathi is a philosophy major and talented saxophonist who was on approved leave.

Sangeeta said that her family has been camped out in Providence since her brother’s disappearance in an effort to try to find him.

His name may have been cleared in the attacks, but the question still remains: where is Sunil Tripathi?