Boston bombings: Indian-American attorney to prosecute Boston bomber

BOSTON: Two veteran anti-terrorism prosecutors, including an Indian-American, have been entrusted with the responsibility to nail the lone surviving Chechen- origin Boston bombings suspect in the high-profile case.

The US Justice Department said the case is being prosecuted by the Assistant US Attorneys William Weinreb and Aloke Chakravarty from the Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit of the US Attorney's Office for District of Massachusetts.

A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and Emory Law School, Chakravarty is an Assistant US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with conspiring to use "weapon of mass destruction" and faces death penalty if convicted.

His brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was pronounced dead on Friday after suffering shrapnel and bullet wounds in a gunfight with police.

Dzhokhar was later arrested in connection with the bombings that killed three people and wounded 180 others.

Over the past 15 years, Chakravarty has been a prosecutor in different contexts -- as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, in the Criminal Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, for the US Department of Justice, and for the UN at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

He has also served in Washington DC as Assistant General Counsel at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as Attorney-Adviser at the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy.

Although he currently focuses on cases involving national security and human rights, Chakravarty has prosecuted and otherwise investigated matters across the criminal spectrum, including juvenile justice, violent crime, drug and gun offences, white collar crime, public corruption and organised crime.

He has also participated in preventative, diversionary and rehabilitative efforts and regularly leads outreach activities.

He has received the Massachusetts Bar Association's Access to Justice Award and the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service.