Amritpal Dhaliwal at the funeral of the friend who died in the San Francisco zoo attack

Washington, March 29: Two Indian American brothers are changing the old saying: “From the frying pan into the fire.”

One of the two brothers, Kulbir and Amritpal “Paul” Dhaliwal who shot to fame on Christmas Day last year, has fallen from the grip of a tiger’s claws into a police lock-up. The other brother has repeatedly run foul of the law, according to details of their lives which are making television headlines here this weekend.

The Dhaliwals barely escaped being killed on Christmas Day after a Siberian tiger, Tatiana, broke out of its walled enclosure in San Francisco zoo and attacked them. Carlos Sousa Jr, a 17-year-old, who had accompanied the two brothers to the zoo was killed by the tiger, which was later shot and killed by the police, saving the lives of the two injured Indian-Americans.

Because it was Christmas Day and there was little news, the incident repeatedly made it to the top of TV news all over the US during the annual holiday period and the Dhaliwal brothers became household names from coast to coast here.

Their already bizarre story took an even more bizarre turn yesterday when it was revealed that Amritpal Dhaliwal had been locked up in California’s San Leandro jail the previous night after he allegedly shoplifted in Target, a chain department store.

According to published accounts of the incident, Target’s security officer Michael Marucut witnessed Amritpal stuffing two Nintendo Wii video game controllers into his trouser pockets at the store. He was followed and the store’s security personnel confronted Amritpal after he allegedly passed Target’s checkout counters without paying for the goods, according to Lt Tom Overton of San Leandro police.

He was released from custody at 2.50am yesterday after he put up a bail for $1,500. Ironically, the arrest occurred within hours after the two brothers filed a claim against San Francisco city seeking monetary compensation for “serious physical and emotional injuries” in the tiger attack.

The zoo comes under the civic authorities and the claim is a prelude to a civil lawsuit, for which the Dhaliwal brothers will be represented by one of America’s most high-profile attorneys.

According to the claim, Kulbir required surgery because of deep cuts and bite wounds on his body and damage to his knees. Amritpal suffered bites and cuts that left scars on him, the complaint said.

It was found during investigations after the incident that the walls of the outer enclosure of the tiger cage were lower than required for a zoo.

The two Indian Americans have since suffered a loss of public sympathy because the lead investigator of San Francisco police said in January that the tiger “may have been taunted by its eventual victims” causing the animal to become nervous and fearful.

At the same time, the east coast media dug a lot of the Dhaliwals’ history which did not show a pretty picture. There were stories that either of the brothers or both had been charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer, marijuana possession, felony and reckless driving resulting in a police chase at 224km per hour in various incidents.