IPFT Leaders and Party Workers Booked For Murder

On Sunday, almost a year after the murder of television journalist, Santanu Bhowmik, in Tripura, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked three Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) leaders, including an MLA, Dhirendra Debbarma, along with at least 300-500 party workers for the murder of the journalist.

In the First Information Report (FIR), the three leaders of the IPFT have been identified as Balram Debbarma, Dhirendra Debbarma, and Amit Debbarama, president of the party’s Mandwi divisional committee. They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, murder, rioting, possession of deadly weapons, and unlawful assembly.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Agartala, IPFT general secretary, Mangal Debbarma, denied the report claiming it to be a ‘rumour’.

“IPFT was welcoming of the investigation by CBI on the murder case of journalist Santanu Bhoumik, however, rumour has it that a few IPFT leaders are also associated with that incident. IPFT vehemently opposed any such rumour and firmly expressed confidence on the independent inquiries by CBI to unearth the truth and to award exemplary punishment to the culprits involved in the incident”, Mangal Debbarma said to a local website TripuraInFoWay.

Speaking to NewsClick, Tripura MP, Jitendra Choudhary said, “The IPFT people have created this ruckus, their party workers were seen on the spot. No second or third party was there. On other hand there was some police also who refrained them to indulge in this horrific incident.”

When asked what he thinks about such incidents happening in Tripura, Choudhary said, “It is a sad state of affairs that this is happening in our state. Tripura never witnessed such gruesome incidents, but ever since the Modi government came in power in 2014, these lynchings, murders, and thefts are commonplace.”

Bhowmik was brutally murdered in Mandwai on September 20, last year, when he went to cover a road blockade by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). Bhowmik worked as a reporter with Dinraat, a local TV channel based in the state.

The IPFT is a tribal party and a coalition partner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It has eight MLAs in the 60-member Tripura Assembly and two Cabinet ministers in the BJP-led ministry led by Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb.