The police on Friday arrested two more persons, taking the number of detainees to five, in connection with the murder of television journalist Santanu Bhowmik at Mandwai, near here, on September 20. A court sent Rakesh Debbarma and Jiten Debbarma to judicial custody with a directive to the police to conduct a test identification parade (TIP) before seeking their remand.
Bhowmik, 28, was murdered with a sharp weapon when he went to cover the road blockade agitation of Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and its ensuing clash with the supporters of the CPI(M). He was chased, caught and hacked to death in the presence of a large number of security personnel.
Within 62 days of the murder of Santanu Bhowmik , another journalist, senior crime reporter Sudip Datta Bhowmik, 49, was shot dead at the office chamber of the Commandant of 2nd battalion of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) at Radha Kishore Nagar, not far from Mandwai. Commandant Tapan Debbarma and four jawans of the paramilitary force were held and booked under murder charges after enraged journalists set a deadline.
Forum for Protection of Journalists, a group of 10 media organisations, on Tuesday last met President Ram Nath Kovind and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at New Delhi to seek their intervention for a high level probe by the Central government. The organisations have been demanding a CBI probe into the murder of the two journalists and have rejected the Special Investigation Teams (SITs) formed by the State government after the murders.
“SITs are drawn from personnel of the State police force. A State-run probe will essentially fail to conduct a detailed enquiry,” Subal Kumar Dey, leader of the current movement of journalists, told The Hindu .
The families of the victims are contemplating moving the High Court of Tripura to demand a CBI probe. They have rejected the SIT.
