
India's Nuclear Scientists Keep Dying Mysteriously - dsr12
http://www.vice.com/read/why-are-indian-authorities-ignoring-the-deaths-of-nuclear-scientists
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vjvj
Logically, either they are: 1) Being killed off by agents representing the
interests of other countries - likely aided by Indian politicians.

or

2) Being killed by India's own agents because they are suspected of leaking
sensitive data and information.

~~~
mathattack
Could it also be they are dying of radiation poisoning?

Barry Eisler writes (fiction) about a contract killer who makes deaths look
like natural causes. (www.barryeisler.com)

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Natsu
One of the reports mentioned their dead bodies being found left on railroad
tracks. That... doesn't sound like radiation poisoning to me.

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mathattack
They were dead first though. I thought of that as disposing of the evidence to
make it look like suicide.

~~~
Natsu
It depends on how you get poisoned, but unless you suffer straight up burned
to death (i.e. nuclear bomb), it seems that most of them result in slow
deaths.

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WasimBhai
The Indian Strategic Command is led by a 3 Star General [1] so the position
mentioned in the article that the police failed to find anything is load of
BS. This type of stuff is taken care of by Intelligence agencies, and if there
was anything extraordinary here, the repercussions must have reached this side
of the border, i.e., Pakistan.

In fact, I find this whole mentioning of Pakistan twice in the article
offensive. If there was even a whiff of Pakistani intelligence work here, the
whole world would have erupted.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Nuclear_Command](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Nuclear_Command)

~~~
rvkennedy
Actually, Pakistan is mentioned once in the context of being a possible
suspect, as are the USA and China. The other mention is to state that only the
Pakistani media initially took an interest in the death of one scientist,
which is hardly some kind of negative accusation.

~~~
frankydp
To add to this, it would not be in India's best interest to publicize any
security issue within its nuclear complex.

Especially if that information would inflame a nuclear neighbor, with which
there is already confrontational history.

I am also not sure how mentioning a competing nation that has been in direct
dispute with the target nation is offensive, specifically in the context of
listing nations that may have interest in the issue.

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enscr
Sadly such things go largely unreported or unnoticed in India. The country is
bleeding and we are caught up in a first-aid circus. I think the social &
financial gap in India is playing havoc on its future. We simply can't reach a
consensus on fundamental day-to-day problems.

~~~
radicaldreamer
How is a response which is basically "such things" just happen in India any
more insightful than the police response?

~~~
enscr
I'm not trivializing anything. But it's hard to get past basics like lack of
water/electricity, soaring food prices, safety on roads etc. before you have
time to help out others.

Your response just proves what I said about not being able to reach consensus
on the real problems. Nitpicking isn't a solution.

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snake_plissken
Very interesting.

Coincidentally, I randomly spent about two hours Saturday morning reading
about the Indian nuclear program. Did you know the Indian program went 24
years between the first test in 1974 and the second test in 1998? It was due
to a shift in priorities during the late 70s and early 80s, as well as the
formation of the Nuclear Supplier's Group which put increased restrictions on
the exportation of nuclear technologies. Anyways, I was under the impression
that everyone in the nuclear club sans North Korea/Israel/Pakistan just went
about testing a whole bunch of designs for the fun of it after the first test.
In total, India has tested only 6 detonations.

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shiven
Not surprised with the police response. In India, that kind of apathy is
routine and 'expected' of each and every governmental organization.

Surprising would have been hard-hitting investigations and solved cases.

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moocowduckquack
I am created Shiva, the Destroyer; death, the shatterer of worlds. The dead
night tiger made whole by the Master of Sinanju.

~~~
llamataboot
I, for one, appreciate the Oppenheimer reference.

~~~
Scriptor
Here's a great description of just how that quote fit on multiple levels:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/pnrgd/wanted_to_share_m...](http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/pnrgd/wanted_to_share_my_dice_with_rpg/c3r052e)

It's much more than Oppenheimer simply realizing he created a massively
destructive weapon.

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lifeisstillgood
is it just me or is this more of an insight into India's feelings about their
nascent role as a superpower. In the article I count 3 deaths in 4 years and
one attempted kidnapping. That makes for a long weekend in some towns in the
world and does not seem like it would be statistically significant in an
"industry" that employs ~ 200 000 people

So why is this news and why on HN? I suspect because it's tapping into
something in Indian society - the fear of _them,_ the Men in Black, secret
power structures running underneath the democratic institutions. it seems to
be part of a malease with our institutions globally - they just don't fit or
react as we would expect them to. I cannot tell if this is more or similar in
india so would be interested in comments

Of course it could be the men in black ...

number of people in India nuclear industry: guesstimate from scaling up
British nuclear group at selafield - 13,000 for one site. The npcil site is
not helpful.

edit: tidied up

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coldtea
> _number of people in India nuclear industry: guesstimate from scaling up
> British nuclear group at selafield - 13,000 for one site._

13,000 people -- including janitors, accountants, secretaries, guards and
officials, not 13,000 nuclear scientists.

And those are not "3 deaths", are 3 very suspect deaths will all the external
appereances of targeted murder.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
But "suspicious" deaths occur within any grouping of people. And this is just
a conspiracy theory in search of some facts.

sorry, in a world of 7 billion people I cannot buy into a conspiracy based on
anecdote.

~~~
coldtea
> _But "suspicious" deaths occur within any grouping of people._

Not really. Where did you get that idea? Not many suspicious deaths in these
here parts for example.

> _sorry, in a world of 7 billion people I cannot buy into a conspiracy based
> on anecdote._

The microcosm of Indian nuclear engineers is not "7 billion people".

And anecdotes is another name for facts. This is not a statistical study.

Even one mysteriously murdered scientist is enough to draw suspicion.

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memracom
Sounds like a non-state player has decided to solve some business problems by
hiring local contract killers. Could be rich Chinese, Russians, Americans.
Anyone who has a ton of cash and industrial interests that are best served by
no nuclear proliferation.

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snambi
In India any problem is generally assumed to be caused by a "foreign hand".
Even if it is no rain for long periods, politicians will claim "foreign hands"
are involved.

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firefoxNX11
Really tragic for those who lost their loved ones. All these incidents sound
like a plot of a bollywood movie.

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jevinskie
The writer's overuse of bold text really tarnishes his credibility.

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chmod775
It's a style of writing that is supposed to make texts easier and more
interesting to read. I don't see any correlation between the quality of
journalism and the use of bold text.

Edit: Also, they're links. As pointed out by someone else.

One shouldn't be so fast to question an author's credibility, especially if
one is only a random nick on an unrelated site making unsupported statements.

