Post-election violence probe team attacked in Tripura

Agartala: In an attempt to gather information about the post-election violence in Tripura, a fact-finding team made up of MPs and MLAs from the Left parties and the Congress arrived in Agartala on Friday. However, they were attacked in the Sepahijala district, according to the police.

Jyotishman Das Chowdhury, Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Law & Order, reported that none of the eight members were hurt during the attack in Nehalchandrangar.

According to him, two to three vehicles carrying Congress and Left party officials were vandalized by unidentified miscreants.

A delegation of MPs, MLAs and local leaders of the Left parties and the Congress made an unscheduled visit to Nehalchandranagar in Bishalgarh on Friday.

During their visit, sloganeering was done and their vehicles were attacked by some miscreants

The police escort team responded quickly and rescued members of the delegation safely.

"No injury to any person was reported but two-three vehicles have been damaged in the attack," the officer said.

One person has been detained in the incident, he said.

"Raids are on to identify and arrest other miscreants. Senior police officers are there at the spot," he said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said that the joint team of the Left and the Congress were visiting various violence-hit areas of West Tripura, Sepahijala and Khowa during the day.

Once the delegation, comprising CPI-M MP E Karim and Congress MP Abdul Khaliq and All India Congress Committee general secretary Ajay Kumar landed at Nehalchandrangar market, they were attacked by miscreants raising slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

"One vehicle was severely damaged, while two more cars were also vandalised," senior CPI-M leader Rakhal Majumder said.

Our members were saved as they shifted promptly from there, he said, adding that Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Birajit Sinha and CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury, who won the election, were also part of the fact-finding delegation.

The team is expected to stay in the state till March 12 after which it will submit a report and the issue will be raised in the next Parliament session, which will begin on March 13, CPI MP Binoy Viswam had tweeted on Thursday.

The CPI-M condemned the attack on the delegation and demanded the arrest of all the miscreants immediately.

At least 20 shops were set on fire in the post-poll violence at Nehalchandranagar, a border village of the Bishalgarh subdivision, on Wednesday night.

Most of the post-poll violence cases were reported from Sepahijala and Khowai districts.

Chief Minister Manik Saha asked the police to take stern action against the miscreants in order to maintain peace and tranquillity.

The Tripura assembly election results were announced on March 2.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura government returned to power in the state for the second consecutive term as the saffron party bagged 32 seats in the 60-member assembly, while its ally the IPFT got one constituency.

With PTI inputs