CPM calls for bandh in West Tripura's Jirania block over journalist Shantanu Bhowmik's death

Agartala: A peaceful dawn-to-dusk bandh, called by the ruling CPM in protest against the killing of a local journalist, was observed on Thursday in the Jirania block area of West Tripura district, police said. [caption id=“attachment_4063559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of IPFT members’ protest. PTI[/caption] Avijit Saptarshi, Superintendent of Police (SP), Tripura West, said, “Everything was closed. Vehicles did not ply. Financial and educational institutions remained closed. There was no report of any untoward incident.” The Assam-Agartala NH 44 was, however, exempted from the bandh. Shantanu Bhowmick, a journalist working with a local television channel, was covering a clash between the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Tripura Rajyer Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, the tribal wing of the CPM, in Mandai area of West Tripura on Wednesday when he was hit from behind and abducted. Later, Bhowmick was found with serious stab injuries and was rushed to Agartala Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’.