Agartala, July 26:
Escalating its attack on the BJP-led government over the death of Tripura Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag, the Congress on Sunday urged the Tripura High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the case and order a judicial probe, while questioning the credibility of the ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry.
Addressing a press conference at the Pradesh Congress Bhavan in the presence of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Asish Kumar Saha and senior party leaders, Congress Working Committee member and MLA Sudip Roy Barman asserted that only a High Court-monitored judicial investigation could uncover the truth behind the DGP’s alleged suicide a week ago.
Roy Barman maintained that an impartial investigation was not possible through an SIT headed by the West Tripura Superintendent of Police, arguing that the police could not be expected to independently investigate the death of the state’s own police chief.
Claiming that several questions surrounding the incident remain unanswered, the Congress legislator said doubts persist over whether it was a case of suicide or something else.
Roy Barman questioned the circumstances surrounding the DGP’s death, saying it was difficult to reconcile the alleged suicide with the officer’s personality and the location of the incident.
He asked why the state’s top police officer would allegedly take his own life in his office rather than at his official residence and pointed to the absence of a suicide note as another factor warranting closer scrutiny.
Maintaining that several unanswered questions remained, the senior Congress leader urged Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha to order a judicial probe, arguing that such an inquiry would ensure transparency and dispel any public suspicion directed at the government.
Referring to the circumstances surrounding the recovery of the body, Roy Barman questioned whether standard forensic procedures were followed at the scene.
Citing opinions expressed by forensic experts, he asked who first reached the spot, whether proper photography and videography of the scene were conducted, and whether all forensic evidence had been scientifically preserved.
The former Minister also alleged that the late DGP had faced humiliation and harassment days before his death.
Linking the incident to recent anti-narcotics operations, he questioned whether influential drug syndicates or other powerful interests could have had any connection with the case, while stressing that these angles required an independent judicial inquiry.
Targeting Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, Roy Barman said that if the government had “nothing to hide”, it should have no objection to a judicial probe. Any delay in ordering such an inquiry, he claimed, would only deepen public suspicion and raise questions about the government’s role.
In a significant political statement, Roy Barman also expressed disappointment over the Tripura High Court’s failure to initiate suo motu proceedings in the matter.
Recalling that under former Chief Justice Deepak Gupta the High Court had intervened on several issues of public importance on its own, he appealed to the court to step in and order a judicial investigation to restore public confidence.
With its latest demand, the Congress has sharpened its offensive against the state government, questioning the role of the police, the administration and seeking judicial intervention into the circumstances surrounding the DGP’s death. Earlier the main Opposition CPIM also demanded for a judicial probe into the incident.
