Swarna Shukla –
Published on: 13 November 2021, at 18:00 IST
A Senior Cadre, Tapan Debbarma of Tripura Police, and prime accused in the Murder of the Journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik were granted Bail by a Trial Court almost after four years of his arrest as the CBI could not submit the Chargesheet on time.
The deceased was shot dead at Tapan Debbarma’s chambers who was the then commandant of Tripura State Rifles second battalion in broad daylight on 21 November 2027, near Agartala. The next day, Tapan Debbarma was arrested and has been in custody since then.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Tripura Police accused four policemen including Tapan Debbarma. Tapan, Nandu, riflemen Dharmendra Singh and Amit Debbarma were arrested in connection with the murder of Sudip Datta Bhowmik. Biswas was afterwards apprehended by the CBI.
The SIT indicated that Sudip was murdered as he got access to information about corruption. Sudip has written a few stories in a daily newspaper that put Tapan in trouble.
The media has reacted to Tapan Debbarma’s release on Bail due to the CBI’s lackadaisical behavior.
Out of the five Accused, three including the Assistant Commandant Swarupananda Biswas had already been granted Bail. Nadu Kumar Reang, Tapan’s personal security guard, who is accused of opening fire on Bhowmik, is still in custody.
In March 2018, the BJP-IPFT government led by Biplab Kumar Deb in the first cabinet handed over the matter to the CBI in response to journalist organisations’ demands.
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