my $0.02 as someone at brown who has met sunil and been following his case:

i am awful with faces so i don't feel i have any particular insight re the resemblance. but i agree w/ others in this thread that the suspect's nose and chin seem really different from his. the more pixelated photos could go either way, but this higher-res photo doesn't look like him at all to me.

as for his personality, i certainly don't know him well, but i've always had an impression of him as very thoughtful. can't really think of a better word for it. it's a particular kind of intelligence that is quiet, curious, and analytical. and no, i've never felt anything "off" about him--that's the first thing i would ask someone else in my position.

however, this uncomfortable possibility has been turning around in my head since monday. my perspective is influenced by the case of a high school kid from my hometown who was convicted of conspiracy to murder in the name of islam. he was a super bright kid who not only excelled in the sciences but had won awards for his writing. he'd been accepted to johns hopkins on a full scholarship. somehow he got enticed online by the jihadist movement and participated in a plot to kill the swedish cartoonist who had depicted mohammed. it doesn't seem so crazy to me that someone who is somehow maladjusted (even if they don't appear so on the outside!), highly intelligent, and most importantly young could find himself attracted to such extremism (whether related to islam or something completely different).

i spent a lot of time earlier today looking at the facebook page dedicated to sunil. it was absolutely moving, overflowing w/ love from his friends and family. but one thing did strike me, and i'll admit that i was reading it w/ this possibility in mind, so take this w/ a grain of salt: the way his loved ones were pleading for him to come back made me think, "it seems like they know something we don't." part of it may have been the fact that they were holding out such strong hope for his return--but god, we all should. it was more about the tone of preemptive forgiveness, how they stressed their unconditional love. i'm not implying his family knew he was involved in any sort of plot--my impression was that the contents of the "vague note" he left behind must have had some strong element of apology, some implication of "i've done something horrible" or "i'm going to do something horrible." and perhaps the implication that he was not going to kill himself.

another thing worth mentioning is an observation my dad had: that he disappeared the day before st. patrick's day, which also would have been a good (is "good" the right word?) opportunity to hurt a bunch of people at once (especially in boston). it could be that something similar was planned for that day and aborted.

despite the fact that i've been considering this possibility w/ some level of seriousness, i burst into tears when i saw this thread. i do not believe that suspect #2 is sunil and of course i hope that it is not. but if it is, my first reaction is not condemnation but the continuing hope that he and his family are ok and will be ok...