Salaries of eight police officers, including five sub-inspectors, in Tripura have been “held up” as they failed to dispose off targeted number of cases allocated to them, officials said on Thursday.

Sepahijala district’s Superintendent of Police, Bogati Jagadeeswar Reddy, in an order said that the salaries of five sub-inspectors (SIs) and three assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) have been “held up” as they could not dispose off targeted number of cases assigned to them during the last three months.

All the eight police officers currently posted in the Bishalgarh police station, failed to dispose off the targeted number of cases over the last three months ensuing the action by the district police chief, a senior police official said.

“Salaries have been kept held for negligence in performing their responsibilities to dispose off cases,” the official said quoting the SP’s order and added that these eight police officers were allotted a target of 18 cases but they disposed off only three cases.

The cases include murders, rapes and drugs trafficking, which occurred in higher numbers in the bordering Sepehahijala district along Bangladesh compared to seven other districts in the state.

Chief Minister Manik Saha often emphasized a zero-tolerance policy towards crimes specially women and drugs related offences.