The 33-year-old legal tangle into the gruesome assassination of Congress MLA Parimal Saha and his cousin came to end on Saturday with a court convicting the assailants. The court awarded life sentence to 12 accused persons against whom charges of murder, conspiracy and abetment were established.
Congress MLA Parimal Saha and cousin Jiten Saha were killed by a group of CPI(M) workers who waylaid their vehicle in Bishalgarh, 33km south of Agartala, on April 7 1983. The incident occurred amidst high voltage of political tension in the area which caused frequent murders, attacks, arson and clash between supporters of rival groups.
The trial in a fast track court restarted early this year following a suo motu directive of Chief Justice of High Court of Tripura Deepak Kumar Gupta. A special public prosecutor was appointed to speed up the trial.
Additional District and Session Judge (West Tripura) S.B. Datta on Friday held 12 accused persons guilty of committing the murders. He acquitted five others for want of evidence.
The Judge on Saturday announced quantum of sentence against Sasthi Chakraborty, 56, Uttam Saha, 57, Mrinal Sengupta, 59, Pradul Sengupta, 58, Bijay Kumar Das, 58, Kajal Roy, 50, Abhaykanti Bhusan, 61, Chinmay Ghosh, 57, Hiranmoy Ghosh, 53, Shukhendu Bikash Das, 58, Babul Das, 56 and Sajal Kumar Sarkar, 56. Of them Chinmoy Ghosh was serving as a Senior Manager in the UCO Bank and Sajal Kumar Sarkar was a teacher in a government school.
The judge in his judgment observed that IPC Sections 302, 307, 326, 147, 148, 149 and 120 (B) were established against the accused. He handed down life sentence to 12 accused.
Opposition Congress and BJP hailed the judgment. Parimal Saha’s younger brother Mihirlal lashed out Congress for allegedly keeping silence for three decades over the issue
