Two BJP leaders and an MLA have been named in the FIR

HUNDREDS of CPI(M) workers and supporters protested the brutal murder of Party activist Dilip Sukla Das (55) in Kalyanpur, in Teliamura subdivision of Tripura, on February 19.

The names of BJP gram panchayat pradhan Krishna Kamal Das, Kalyanpur mandal secretary Manoj Dev and local BJP MLA figure in the FIR lodged by Das’s sons.

Das was dragged out of his house and brutally attacked with stones, sticks and bricks in Dwarikapur village, under the Kalyanpur Police Station, around 11 pm on February 18. He was rushed to the Khowai District Hospital and later GB Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries.

According to eyewitness, Krishna Das, Dev and Chowdhury were involved in the murder.

After the post-mortem at GB Hospital mortuary, Das’s son Biswajit Sukla Das and hundreds of Party workers and supporters decided to take the body to the Melarmath CPI(M) state office to pay their respects. Despite several requests, the police didn’t allow the body to be brought to the CPI(M) office for several minutes.

The Tripura CPI(M) state secretariat in a press statement has strongly condemned the “premeditated” killing and demanded immediate arrest of the killers and exemplary punishment. It also criticised the police for “violating human rights” by not allowing the body to be taken to the Party office.

Paying tributes to Das and expressing condolences to his family, the CPI(M) state secretariat said that the peace-loving people of the state “will not forgive the divisive and murderous BJP and some crony officials at the top of the police force to cover it up”.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar has condemned the heinous crime and demanded harsh punishment for the killers.

“The Party tried to bring the mortal remains to the Party state office to pay respects,” he told reporters in Agartala. Party state secretary Jitendra Choudhury spoke with the director general of police and requested him to allow the mortal remains to be taken to the CPI(M) state office in Melarmath.”

It is a “custom to bring a Party worker/supporter’s body to the Party office”, Sarkar has said adding, “Which kind of barbaric uncivilised society we belong to?”

In another development, Tripura’s chief electoral officer Kiran Gitte convened a meeting of all political parties on February 20 to discuss the post-poll law and order situation in the state and requested them to appeal to their supporters to not take law in their hands.

“The Election Commission of India is daily monitoring law and order in the state. No post-poll violence of any kind shall be tolerated, Gitte said.

At least, 21 people were arrested and 16 more FIRs registered following post-poll violence in the state despite the heavy presence of central armed police forces and state security personnel.