Journalists demand CBI inquiry into Bhowmick killing

Hundreds of scribes today staged a sit-in demonstration for an hour near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi here demanding a CBI inquiry into the killing of journalist Shantanu Bhowmick.
Bhowmick was killed at Mandai, about 25 km from here on September 20 when he went to cover a programme organised by Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), which is campaigning for a separate state within the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
Secretary of Tripura Journalist Union (TJU) and executive member of Indian Journalist Union (IJU), Pranab Sarkar said members of nine journalist bodies including Tripura Photo Journalist Union, Tripura Working Journalist Association (TWJA) and TV journalist organisation of Tripura participated in the one hour long sit-in demonstration programme to press for CBI inquiry.

Sarkar said, "We demand CBI inquiry, although the state government had instituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate into the killing, because there were lapses on the side of the state police to protect Shantanu, when he was attacked by a group miscreants at Mandai. We demanded CBI inquiry for an impartial investigation."
A five member SIT, headed by a senior IPS officer was formed by the government on September 26 last to investigate the killing. The government also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family members of Bhowmick.
Meanwhile, the President of Tripura unit of BJP, Biplab Deb said a team of BJP MPs would soon visit the state to review the situation after the brutal killing of Bhowmick.

"The MPs team would visit the state after Laxmi Puja and also review the law and order situation in the state and submit a report to Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh", he told reporters.