Tripura High Court issues notice on CBI demand in journalist Shantanu Bhowmick's murder, seeks state govt's response

Agartala: The Tripura High Court has issued separate notices to the state government, the Centre and the CBI seeking a reply as to why a CBI probe should not be ordered into the killing of TV journalist Shantanu Bhowmik.

The journalist was hacked to death on 20 September last when he went to Mandai in West Tripura district to cover a protest by the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT).

The writ petition filed by the journalist’s father Sadhan Bhowmik, seeking a CBI probe, came up for hearing on Tuesday.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice T Vaiphei and Justice S Talapatra served the notices after studying the submission of advocate Samrat Kar Bhowmik, who represented the petitioner.

Tripura Advocate General Bijan Chandra Das said the court had issued notice to all the three parties.

The petition will be again heard on 20 December, he said.

The journalists father had filed the case on 7 December last.

Earlier he had expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by the state government.