Three killed as armed men attack a newspaper office in Tripura

AGARTALA, May 19 (Agencies): Three employees of a local Bengali daily were stabbed to death inside its office by two unidentified assailants in Agartala today.

According to police, the motorcycle-borne assailants barged into the office of 'Dainik Ganadoot' at the Palace Compound at about 3 PM and stabbed a proof reader and a driver on the ground floor before proceeding to the first floor where they stabbed the office manager.

As it was Sunday afternoon, only one reporter was present at the newspaper office 'Gandoot Bhawan'. He fainted on seeing the assailants stabbing the two men on the ground floor and was left unharmed.

All the three men, who were knifed a number of times each were rushed to the hospital where they were declared brought dead, the police said, adding the traumatized reporter was also undergoing treatment there.

The three were identified as proof reader Sujit Bhattacharya (32), office driver Balaram Ghosh (40) and office manager Ranjit Chowdhury (60), the police said.

'Dainik Ganadoot' editor-cum proprietor Sushil Chowdhury, who lives in the same compound, said he suspected the three were stabbed due to mistaken identity and he himself might have been the target but did not know the reason behind the killings.

Papia, the six-year old daughter of the driver, who too lived in the same complex, said she saw the two assailants repeatedly stabbing her father and Bhattacharya before rushing to the first floor.

Police said the assailants were yet to be identified and a search operation has been launched to apprehend them.

Agartala Press Club has strongly condemned the killing and demanded safety and security to the lives of journalists and employees of newspaper and media houses in the state.

Meanwhile, the Journalists’ Forum Assam, Guwahati has demanded a probe into the Agartala killings.

A statement of the Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed deepest shock at the incident

The statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua and its secretary Nava Thakuria, has urged Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to probe into the incident and compensate adequately the victim families.

The JFA asserted that in any situation the attack on a newspaper house will not be tolerated and extended all possible help and cooperation to the media fraternity of Tripura in the next course of actions with the demand for justice.