DSP suspended for failure to track ex-Tripura minister

AGARTALA: The Tripura government on Satuday suspended DSP of West Tripura district intelligence branch Bonoj Biplab Das for his failure to keep track former PWD minister and senior CPM leader Badal Choudhury, an accused in the PWD scam.
With this, the total number of policemen suspended so far has risen to 10. On Friday, the government suspended OC of West Agartala police station DP Roy and three other police personnel attached to the District Intelligence Branch for dereliction in duty.Besides, Choudhury's two personal guards and one assistant sub-inspector were also suspended on smiliar charges. The day before this, SP (West Tripura) Ajit Pratap Singh was suspended, DIG (Southern Range) Arindam Nath was removed from the responsibility and six DSPs were transferred on the same charge.
Meanwhile, a local court on Saturday sent Sunil Bhowmik, retired chief engineer of state PWD and an accused in the case, to five more days of police remand. He will be produced in court again on Wednesday. Earlier, he was sent to four-day police remand.
Immediately after the suspension of SP (West) and DIG (Southern Range), a delegation of IPS officers headed by DGP AK Shukla met the CM and requested him to revoke the order but the CM didn't agree. The suspension of seven more policemen on Friday night has led to anger against the government.
On Friday evening, police had conducted a search in the houses of civilians and doctors' chambers to arrest Badal Choudhury but couldn't taste any success. Police claimed they traced the location of Choudhury's mobile to the area and that security forces encircled the entire locality within a few minutes.
The Biplab Deb government in Tripura is facing embarrassment after failing to arrest Choudhury in the last three days despite repeated search in all possible places by senior police officers. The bail petition of Choudhury was rejected in a sessions court three days ago.