AGARTALA:
The former chief minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar, on February 15, submitted a letter to chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb demanding a high-level probe into the alleged murder of a Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) worker in Kamalpur village of Tripura’s South district.
“The accused named in the FIR of the case must be booked immediately and impartial legal steps must be taken against them. Constitute a high-power inquiry team to undertake an investigation of the murder. Considering renewed threat perception on the families of Benu Biswas, the government must stand beside the family and provide proper security to avert any more attack in future and Malati Biswas, who is wife of Late Benu Biswas, may be provided with logistic support for her permanent livelihood (sic),” wrote Sarkar.
On February 10, Benu Biswas, a supporter and member of the CPI-M’s Scheduled Caste (SC) wing was allegedly killed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers at Kamalpur village. A day later, Biswas’ family members had filed an FIR against four BJP workers namely, Jhutan Chakraborty, Naresh Chakraborty, Joydeb Sarkar and Manik Lal Sarkar.
Throwing a volley of questions at Deb whether supporting the CPI-M is a crime in the state, Sarkar, who is also the leader of the opposition, added that the police are now trying to make the case not look like murder.
On February 14, an MLA team comprising Badal Chowdhury, deputy leader of opposition, Tapan Chakraborty, Ratan Bhowmik, Bhanulal Saha, Sahid Chawdhuri, Sudhan Das, and Sarkar visited Biswas’ house and met his family members.
The team also demanded the removal of Arjan Chakma, officer-in charge of PR Bari Police Station immediately alleging biased investigation in support of the alleged perpetrators.