Bharat Ratna club secretary murder: Prime accused Raju Barman sent to 8 days PR

Amidst massive protest by local people and family persons in Agartala court complex demanding capital punishment against prime accused and mastermind Raju Barman for sensational murder of Durga Prasanna Deb alias Viki, former club president of Bharat Ratna Sangha of Usha Bazar, who was shot dead on April 30 night, who was produced before a local court  on Friday.

Raju Barman was arrested on Wednesday morning from Guwahati after 70 days of massive search across different states and on Thursday evening, he was brought to Agartala through transit-remand.

Amidst deployment of a large number of security forces in Agartala court, Raju Barman was produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of West Tripura district with ten days police remand appeals.

By that time, a large number of people from Usha Bazar area had also gathered in the front court complex and  when police escorted Raju Barman in the court, agitated local people raised slogans against the killer and demanded justice for the victim's family. They, with placards and banners demanding capital punishment for the killer, urged the authorities that he should not be given mercy and if he managed to get bail, then again he started  murdering people for his personal benefits.

Special public prosecutor Shankar Lodh said that arrested Raju Barman was found in a rented house in Guwahati living with his wife and a son, who was produced before a court in Agartala on Friday with police remand appeals for interrogation.

After hearing both prosecution and defense team of lawyers, the court granted eight days police remand for interrogation, said Lodh and added that the investigation police team will now be able to resolve the mystery of the murder and will also be able to get clues to arrest other miscreants involved in the sensational murder.

It may be recalled here that Soon after the sensational murder, on May 1st, the investigation team of Airport police station has arrested former club president of Bharat Ratna Sangha, Pradyot Dhar Chowdhury from Usha Bazar and based on the interrogation statement of Chowdhury, police arrested Sushmita Sarkar (22).

Police sources said that along with interrogation statements of Pradyot Dhar Chowdhury and CCTV footage collected from the nearby areas of the scene of crime, Sushmita was arrested.

Based on the confessional statement of another arrested accused, Rakesh Barman, younger brother of prime accused Raju Barman,  police had recovered the arms used to kill Viki .

So far, police has arrested  seven accused persons involved in the sensational murder of club secretary of Bharat Ratna Sangha including former Bharta Ratna club president including Pradyot Dhar Chowdhury, Sushmita Sarkar and her mother Uma Sarkar, Sandip Kar alias Akash, Sunny Saha ,Birchakra Ghosh and Rakesh Barman and all are now in jail custody and with arrest of Raju Barman, a total of eight accused persons were arrested so far.

Police sources said that the investigation is in progress and hopes that  with  the interrogation statement of arrested Raju Barman  and with scientific evidence, they will soon be able to arrest remaining accused involved in the murder.

While, the court has issued permanent non-bailable arrest warrants against all FIR named accused persons, who were locally infamous as negotiation mafias.

Government Advocate Indrajit Biswas said that after the sensational murder of Durga Prasanna Deb alias Viki on Tuesday evening (April 30) at Shalbagan area under Agartala Airport police station, police has registered an Suo-Moto FIR under section 302, 120(B) of IPC and 27 Arms Act against assailants.

The shootout at Shalbagan Bazar was committed only with prime reason of growing rivalry among different groups of negotiation mafias and the North side of Agartala city has once again in limelight , in which  club secretary of Bharat Ratna Sangha shot dead, which mainly committed for a share of money of negotiation for CPW contracts.

As per the FIR, negotiation mafias including Biman Das, Debabrata Barman, Santosh, Amit Ghosh and Prabakar Ghosh are still beyond the radar of police.