TWO HELD FOR TRIPURA JOURNALIST’S MURDER
AGARTALA:
The Tripura police on Thursday arrested two people in connection with the murder of journalist Shantanu Bhowmik during a clash between rival tribal parties on Wednesday.
“We arrested Shyamal Debbarma and Bikash Debbarma, two tribal youth from Mandwai for their involvement in Bhowmik’s killing and forwarded them to the court,” a police officer said. The duo is believed to be members of the statehoodseeking Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) although the police refused to comment if they belonged to the outfit.
Bhowmik, 28, worked for Bengali news channel Dinraat and was abducted when he was covering an agitation and road blockade by the IPFT, superintendent of police Abhijit Saptarshi said. He was found with serious stab wounds and was rushed to a government hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
IPFT is in talks for a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, desperate to oust chief minister Manik Sarkar’s Left Front government. Clashes had erupted in the state when supporters of the Ganamukti Parishad, a tribal wing of the ruling CPM, gathered at a bus stand in Khowai town to travel to Agartala for a rally. The IPFT workers attacked their rivals with sticks and iron rods and damaged at least 15 buses. The Parishad had called the rally in Mandwai, a tribal-dominated area in West Tripura district, against the IPFT. The Tripura government has sounded a high alert prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the (CrPC) have been promulgated in parts of state. The 28-year-old was the sole breadwinner of his family and is survived by his sister and mother.