Tripura: Four people including BJP, IPFT members murdered, no arrest

While the ruling party claimed that the incidents were acts of the political opponent, opposition parties blamed it on the deteriorating law and order situation of the state under BJP rule and police also remained clueless so far.

The incidents triggered serious reaction across the state ahead of elections to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC).

According to report, miscreants stormed the house of IPFT local leader Warish Ali (35) and he was stabbed to death at Muslimpara of Sharma ADC village in Ganchacherra of Dhalai district on Friday in the wee hours while his wife Salma Bibi was also injured seriously.

Salma has been undergoing treatment at Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC).

She stated that Ali had joined IPFT, the alliance partner of BJP, before last assembly elections and he was actively working in favour of the party for upcoming ADC poll.

She also alleged that BJP cadres were involved in the killing, as their family had been getting the threats for past few months for leaving IPFT.

The elder brother of deceased Arish Ali said, "At late night when his younger brother's wife Salma knocked the door, he saw her drenched in blood. Then she fainted. Immediately, we rushed out of the house and found Arish in a pool of blood. His head, throat and trachea were also cut and he was shifted to hospital”.

After initial care at the sub-divisional hospital, both the husband and wife were referred to AGMC for better treatment.

However, Arish died on the way to Agartala in a government ambulance. Arish Ali said that his younger brother was attacked five times since the last assembly election. His car was set on fire and his house was also demolished earlier but the police had not taken any action against the culprits so far.

In another incident, police recovered the body of 40-year-old Tapas Sinha near a bridge at Ranirbazar of eastern Agartala yesterday.

The deceased was a BJP worker and husband of Shiuli Das Sinha, a member of West Tripura Zilla Parishad. The body bore several injuries and his face was crushed which seemed to be hit by a vehicle. Tapas had gone for morning walk in the locality. Nobody is arrested so far in the case.

In the third incident, police recovered the body of 32 –yr old driver Sujit Debnath in front of his house at Salema village of Dhalai district yesterday morning. The victim's family accused three of his friends-- Diptanu Debnath, Asit Debnath and Rabindra Debnath-- of hanging him after murder, as there had been a dispute over some financial transaction.

“Four of them were together till late night but afterwards Sujit's body was found hanging outside the room. We called three of his friends living in nearby area but none of them came out, which made us to believe that they were involved in the murder and later hanged his body,” said the deceased’s brother Suman Debnath.

However, police said an investigation has started and soon the culprits will be booked.

The fourth incident was reported at Kachucherra village of Ambassa in Dhalai district where the body of 27 –yrs old Mithun Debnath was found hanging from a tree near a roadside jungle.

The family alleged that Mithun had some marital dispute with his wife and local leaders of the ruling BJP had been pressuring him to settle the case by cash payment but he did not agree.

“Last week, the leaders came to the house and when he refused to pay the amount for the settlement, they immediately called the police to detain him. To evade police, he ran away in the jungle on June 22 last, and thereafter he had gone missing. Yesterday, neighbours saw him hanging from a treee and informed the police,” said one of his family members Kanan Bala Debnath.

However, police did not arrest anybody in this connection.

The ruling BJP said that opposition members were involved in such incidents to create tension.