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Body found in river is Sunil Tripathi's, authorities confirm

A facebook photo of Sunil Tripathi with his mother

Boston, April 25 Authorities confirmed that the man’s body pulled out from the Providence River is missing Indian origin student Sunil Tripathi. Officials confirmed through dental records that it was 22-year-old Tripathi, who was last seen on March 16, reports NBC.

The Tripathi family released the following statement on the facebook page they had set up to find Tripathi.

On April 23, our beloved Sunil was discovered in the waters off India Point Park in Providence, Rhode Island.
As we carry indescribable grief, we also feel incredible gratitude. To each one of you–from our hometown to many distant lands–we extend our thanks for the words of encouragement, for your thoughts, for your hands, for your prayers, and for the love you have so generously shared.
Your compassionate spirit is felt by Sunil and by all of us.
This last month has changed our lives forever, and we hope it will change yours too. Take care of one another. Be gentle, be compassionate. Be open to letting someone in when it is you who is faltering. Lend your hand. We need it. The world needs it.”

The body was found in the river behind the Wyndham Garden Providence Hotel at around 6 p.m, the police officer told the Globe.
The coach of Brown’s rowing team, which practices in that area, saw the body floating in the water and called police, Donnelly said.
Tripathi was last seen in his apartment on Angell Street in Providence around 11 a.m. on March 16.
An initial police sweep of Tripathi’s room found his cellphone, credit card, ID, and other personal items, but his sister said his glasses and Philadelphia Eagles wool cap were gone, the Globe said.
The FBI has been assisting Providence police in the investigation.

Reddit apologizes: Meanwhile, Reddit, a popular social news and entertainment website, has apologized for posts on the site that had led to speculation that Sunil Tripathicould be one of the Boston bombing suspects.

“The crowdsourced, more criminal investigation was very volatile and fraught with problems, and, obviously, wrong,” Reddit general manager Erik Martin told CNN. “That was something we all wished hadn’t happened.”

The moderator of a subreddit, or comment thread titled findbostonbombers, which had been set up to crowdsource the identities of the bombers, also apologized, the channel said.

One group of redditors, as the site’s users are known, had speculated that Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student who has been missing since last month, could be a possible suspect. Tripathi’s family temporarily took down a Facebook page asking for help finding him after they were bombarded by ugly comments.

Other Reddit users focused on two young men with heavy-looking bags, one of whom wore a blue track suit.

The New York Post even splashed a photo of the two marathon spectators on its front page with the headline, “Bag Men: Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.”

The guy in the track suit turned out to be a 17-year-old suburban Boston track star who told a news agency he was afraid to leave his house because of the scrutiny, CNN reported.

Critics too have posted scathing comments on the Reddit fiasco.

The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal wrote a column called “Hey Reddit, Enough Boston Bombing Vigilantism,” and followed it up with a story on how the names of two innocent people got repeated in a viral loop on social media.

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