A day after the Tripura Police reported the theft of "some bundles of files" from the police headquarters, the Congress Wednesday alleged that the files weren't actually stolen but were rather removed to save influential people. The party also demanded a judicial enquiry into the issue. In a press statement, Tripura Police said, "Some bundles of files meant for weeding, destruction and also some dormant files lying in an isolated cabin of PHQ were stolen/damaged by miscreants on the intervening night of August 15-16.” It added that an FIR was lodged in West Agartala Police Station on the morning of August 16 and subsequently, a "bulk of the stolen files" were recovered on the same day and two persons involved were arrested. "Security is being reviewed to prevent any recurrence and necessary action is being taken for security lapse," the police statement reads. Speaking to the media, Tripura Congress MLA and leader Sudip Roy Barman said, "We demand the setting up of a judicial enquiry headed by a sitting High Court judge.” He added, “It's clear as daylight that it was a concocted incident and that the files were not stolen, rather, they were removed by insiders to save some people.” Stating that the fact that 182 files were recovered during the investigation makes it clear that the incident was a “got-up game”, Sudip said, "It's impossible for petty thieves to lift 182 office files from a highly secured building in the police headquarters and move away undetected. Were they carrying the files on their heads?" He also questioned the security condition in Tripura, where the police headquarters isn't safe from thieves and said the Congress will launch a larger movement if the government doesn’t initiate a judicial enquiry. Later, Opposition leader Manik Sarkar wrote to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and said the incident is unforeseen and can't be treated as a simple theft. "There are serious grounds to think there's a section of the administration whose interests are involved in removal of these files from the police headquarters. It's not unjustified to think there's a deep-rooted conspiracy and mystery behind the incident," Sarkar wrote. Terming the incident as the “first-ever incident of such magnitude”, Sarkar sought the Chief Minister to order a high-level enquiry headed by "brave senior officials" of the police and the administration. Reacting to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said his party shares the sentiment of the Opposition parties about the need to unearth the truth of the theft. Bhattacharya said BJP is reposing faith in the state police for now and doesn't see any reason not to trust the police with the investigation. However, he said those flagging a conspiracy or mystery behind the incident might be in possession of valuable information relating to the incident and said they should be brought under the ambit of the investigation for the sake of unearthing the truth.
