Congress Seeks Cbi Probe Into Attack On Cpm Office In Tripura

Leader of opposition in Tripura assembly Samir Ranjan Burman has demanded a CBI inquriy into last Fridays insurgent attack at the CPI(M) office at Manikbhander in Dhalai district.

A CPI(M) leader was kidnapped by the insurgents during the attack and one person was shot dead.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Burman alleged the incident was the fallout of infighting in the CPI(M) divisional committee.

Burman denied reports published in the CPI(M) party organ Desher Katha which had blamed a few Congress supporters and the statement of CPI(M) state secreariat that the opposition Congress-TUJS combine was behind the incident.

The congress leader said he was demanding a CBI inquiry because there was contradiction between the version of the CPI(M) daily and the statement of the state secretariat.

Otherwise, they can institute a judicial commission by a sitting Supreme Court judge who would submit his report within one month, he added.

The leader of the opposition alleged that state health minister Bimal Singha had actively backed the ultras to kidnap the CPI(M) leader.

Meanwhile, normal life was totally disrupted in the entire Kamalpur subdivision of Tripura yesterday with shops and markets downing their shutters and vehicles remaining off the roads, following a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the local unit of the ruling CPI(M).

The bandh was in protest against last Fridays insurgent attack on the local party office.

Police said no untoward incident had been reported from any part of the subdivision in the wake of the bandh called in protest against the killing of the bodyguard of MLA Sudhir Das who was shot dead by National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) insurgents last Friday when he tried to rescue the CPI(M) state committee member and secretary of local CPI(M) Ranjit Ghose from the clutches of militants.

Three persons had been arrested on Saturday in connection with the attack and the abduction of Ghose at Manikbhander area under Kamalpur police station, the sources said.

Five others were injured as the gunmen fired indiscriminately. Massive combing operations have been launched by Army and paramilitary forces to trace the abducted CPI(M) leader in the nearby areas, according to the sources.

An alert has been sounded in the border areas to prevent ultras from crossing over to Bangladesh.

The Tripura government has, meanwhile, taken steps to combat the call by the banned All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) for observing black day on October 15 next.

State home minister Samar Choudhury directed all the security agencies to beef up security measures in the wake of the ATTF call and reviewed the law and order situation in the state, on Saturday, according to official sources here.

The Tripura Peoples Democratic Front (TPDF), political wing of the ATTF, in the latest issue of party organ Chaba, called upon all Tripuri citizens to observe October 15 as black day.

It was on October 15 that the agreement of the merger of Tripura was signed with the widow of the last king, Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman in 1949. With the merger agreement, the Tripuri inhabitants were being neglected on their own soil, the TPDF alleged and demanded immediate deportation of all foreigners.

Meanwhile, Army recovered 134 copies of chaba from the Chhankhola area under Khowai subdivision of West Tripura disrict last Thursday.

Security forces had also been directed to intensify their patrol to ensure peace in the state during the Durga Puja festival.