The Tripura High Court on Monday directed the sessions court trying 73-year-old Sushil Choudhury, editor of Dainik Ganadoot and the main accused in the sensational triple-murder case, to complete the trial in six months. A single bench passed the order rejecting the review petition Mr. Choudhury filed after the court had earlier dismissed his bail plea.
The newspaper’s manager Ranjit Choudhury, proof reader Sujit Bhattacharjee and driver Balaram Ghosh were murdered in the paper’s office on May 19 this year.
Mr. Choudhury, who resided in the same compound that housed the office, initially claimed that two assailants strangled and stabbed the three to death before fleeing in a motorbike.
The police arrested Mr. Choudhury, naming him as conspirator behind the murders, after Niyoti Ghosh, the wife of Balaram Ghosh, turned approver.
She had been arrested for giving inconsistent statements.
The murders, which took place in broad daylight, earned the condemnation of international, national and regional media organisations and rights groups.
There was widespread demand for a fair and complete investigation to identify the real culprits and award them exemplary punishment. In the charge sheet, the police claimed that the murders were the result of the enmity between Ranjit Choudhury and Sushil Choudhury. They ruled out the involvement of outsiders. After Mr. Choudhury’s bail plea was rejected by the lower courts, his lawyers moved the High Court.
