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Journalism of Courage
A day after an assault left former minister and Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman’s security officer and driver grievously injured, Tripura Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Dr Manik Saha condemned the incident and sought severe punishment for those involved.
“He (Saha) came to know about the attack of miscreants on personal security officer and driver of former MLA Sudip Roy Barman. He has severely condemned the incident. He has also said BJP doesn’t believe in this culture. He demanded severe punishment for anyone or everyone involved in the incident,” a statement from Saha’s office read.
The incident occurred when Roy Barman was busy discussing legal issues with his advocate Soumik Deb at his Krishnanagar residence on Sunday afternoon.
On the alleged attack, former MLA and Congress leader Ashish Kumar Saha, who left the BJP with Barman last year, said Barman was the main target of the assault and pointed fingers at BJP-backed hooligans.
“The attackers searched for him and when they didn’t find him, they assaulted his driver and security guard and left the spot”, he told reporters last evening.
Barman himself claimed the attack was perpetrated by BJP workers and that a ‘jungle-raj’ is prevailing in the state.
CM Biplab Kumar Deb condemned the assault. A senior offical from the Chief Minister’s Office said Deb spoke with the DGP over the incident and asked for strict measures.
“The CM wouldn’t tolerate degeneration of law and order at any cost,” the official said.
Opposition leader Manik Sarkar also condemned the attack saying, “The miscreants should be arrested immediately without looking into their political affiliation.”
The CPI(M) demanded a high-level enquiry into the incident.
“This incident proves once again that law and order doesn’t exist in the state. The more BJP is getting detached from people, the more are they dependent on anti-socials and trying to adopt violence against protesting individuals and opposition political parties,” a party statement read.
The Congress had filed a complaint at West Agartala Police Station alleging attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from discharging duty among other issues.
Speaking to indianexpress.com on Monday evening, a senior official of Tripura Police, who didn’t wish to be named, said Subhasis Lahiri, Abdul Sahin and Bappa Nandi, all from Agartala city, were arrested over the case.
All three of them were produced in a local court, wherefrom they were sent to judicial custody till May 15. Barman, a former minister in the Deb cabinet, left the BJP and rejoined the Congress two months ago. He had left Congress to join Trinamool Congress in 2016 and then shifted camp to BJP in 2017.
