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Agartala, July 19 (IANS): After the CPI-M, all major opposition parties including the Congress on Wednesday have demanded re-investigation of murder of Tripura police officer Durga Kumar Hrangkhwal and severe punishment for the assailants.
The police officer was killed by the drug mafia on November 21, 2019.
Main opposition Tipra Motha Party (TMP), Congress, Trinamool Congress demanded the BJP government to arrange re-investigation of murder of the Tripura police officer and arrange exemplary punishment to the drug peddlers who killed Hrangkhwal.
Opposition leader and senior TMP legislator Animesh Debbarma demanded a judicial probe of the killing and asked that if the police officer on duty was killed by the drug mafia how the state government would achieve its mission to make Tripura a drug free state.
Tripura state Congress President Ashish Saha demanding re-investigation of the killing of Hrangkhwal, who was a Sub-Inspector of Tripura police, said that even the police officers are also not secured from the evil design of the drug peddlers and smugglers.
“Home and Law Departments are now held by the Chief Minister Manik Saha himself. The Chief Minister has always talked about making Tripura a drug-free state. How this plan would be successful when an honest police officer was killed and he did not get any justice,” Saha told the media.
Hrangkhwal was killed in a run over incident in November 2019 while he along with other policemen was patrolling on a road along Bangladesh border against drugs smuggling.
After a long trial, the Sepahijala District Judge last week acquitted all the seven accused due to lack of evidence and other proof.
Trinamool Congress state President and senior lawyer Pijush Kanti Biswas demanding an appropriate punishment to the drug peddlers said that the state government must apply to the High Court for conducting the reinvestigation of the killing.
CPI-M Tripura state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Tuesday had said that due to the shoddy investigation and making a weak chargesheet by police caused acquittal of all seven accused charged with murder of the Sub-Inspector Hrangkhawal and even the vehicle that had crushed the police officer had not been seized.
The Officer-in-Charge of the Kalamchoura police station under Sepahijala district was given promotion and the police officers involved in the investigation of the police officer’s murder case tried day and night to save the accused from punishment.
The CPI-M leader demanded to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Superintendent of Police rank officer to re-investigate the murder of the honest police officer on duty.
Choudhury alleged that the investigating police officers were influenced to derail the probe at the behest of influential leaders.
Meanwhile, officiating Commandant of 145 battalion of Border Security Force Deepak Kumar Mandal was also killed after he was hit by a vehicle of cattle smugglers at Belardeppa village along Bangladesh border in Tripura’s same Sepahijala district in October 2017.
