The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested a security official in connection with its probe into the murder of two journalists in separate incidents in 2017.
Swarupananda Biswas, Assistant Commandant in the 2nd battalion of paramilitary Tripura State Rifles (TSR), is the second senior officer arrested after former battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma, for their alleged involvement in the killing of journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik.
Sudip Datta Bhowmik, a reporter with Bengali daily Syandan, was shot dead inside the office of Commandant Tapan Debbarman at R.K. Nagar, near Agartala, when the former went to a paramilitary campus to on a professional assignment. The other journalist Santanu Bhowmik, who was working for a local television channel was lynched to death while covering a road blockade agitation at Mandwai, 25 kms east of Agartala.
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After it assumed office in March 2018, the BJP-led coalition government in the State handed both the investigations to the CBI. Journalists’ organisations had been continuously holding street protests to press for probe by the central agency.
The police and the CBI had made several arrests in connection with the murders but almost all the accused were released on bail.
The CBI recently intensified its investigation after Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb spoke to Home Minister Amit Shah.
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