TSR asst commandant remanded in CBI custody in scribe killing case

An assistant commandant of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), who was arrested by CBI in connection with the murder of a journalist in 2017, was on Thursday remanded to four days in the investigating agency's custody.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Sarmistha Mukherjee passed the order on TSR assistant commandant Swarupananda Biswas, who was arrested on Wednesday.

CBI sleuths had flown down from Kolkata and had interrogated Biswas for two days before arresting him on Wednesday.

Sudip Dutta Bhowmik, a crime reporter with a vernacular newspaper was killed inside the TSR 2nd battalion headquarters at RK Nagar in West Tripura district on November 20, 2017.

The commandant of the 2nd battalion, Tapan Debbarma was arrested immediately after the murder and is still in jail custody.

A case in the killing was lodged at the additional district and sessions judge's court here and then Manik Sarkar government had ordered a probe by the special investigating team (SIT) of Tripura police.

After the BJP-IPFT government of Biplab Kumar Deb came into power in March 2018, the case was moved to Tripura High Court and the investigation was handed over to CBI.

Two scribes were killed in Tripura in 2017, months before the state went to polls in 2018. A local TV channel reporter Santanu Bhowmik too was killed when he went to cover a road blockade at the Mandwai area of West Tripura district in September that year.

CBI was handed over the investigation in this killing also by the BJP-IPFT government.