Body found in river could be that of missing student Sunil Tripathi: Police

According to a report in the Boston Globe, Police in Providence, Massachusetts, pulled a man’s body from the Providence River on Tuesday, and authorities said it is “very possible” that it is Sunil Tripathi, 22, a former Brown University student who has been missing since mid-March. During the manhunt for the Boston bombers, Sunil Tripathi's name was wrongly brought up as one of the suspects. Online sleuths on Reddit wrongly identified Tripathi as a bomber, and in fact a dedicated thread propped up on the site called, Is missing student Sunil Tripathi Marathon Bomber? with people analyzing CCTV footage of the Boston bomber and comparing it to Sunil's.Sunil went missing on 16 March from his apartment and according to the police he left his phone and wallet behind. Distraught parents and family members of Sunil had even started a Facebook page to help find him but were forced to take it down due to virulent hate messages once his name cropped up as a Boston bomber. However the page has since been restored.[caption id="attachment_725543" align="alignleft" width="380"] Screengrab of Facebook page for Sunil Tripathi.[/caption]In this ABC report, Sangeeta Tripathi, Sunil's sister said, "We've just been literally walking every road we saw him walk. Walking in every nook and cranny, talking to every local business, and really trying to move forward."Sunil was suffering from bouts of depression. Reddit today apologised in private to Sunil's family for the 'online witch hunt'.We will update this story once we get more information on whether the body discovered in the river is indeed Sunil's.