Badal Chowdhury had held finance, public works portfolios in Manik Sarkar's Left Front government
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday took action against several police officers involved in search operations to arrest former state minister Badal Chowdhury, who has been named in an alleged Rs 600-crore scam. An anticipatory bail petition lodged by the veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader was rejected the previous night.
On Sunday night, the vigilance department had lodged a complaint against Mr Chowdhury and two others - former Chief Engineer Sunil Bhowmik and former Chief Secretary Yash Pal Singh - in connection with alleged discrepancies in allocation of work for a flyover constructed in state capital Agartala. Mr Chowdhury's lawyers have indicated that they will file a special leave petition in the Agartala High Court, considering that it is on vacation.
Mr Chowdhury had held the finance and public works portfolios under the previous Manik Sarkar-led Left Front government at the time.
West Tripura Superintendent of Police Ajit Pratap Singh was suspended as part of the state government's action against officers in charge of the search operation, while Deputy Inspector General (Southern Range) Arindam Nath and Subdivisional Police Officer Dhruva Nath were removed from their posts.
Superintendent of Police (Anti-Narcotics Branch) Manik Lal Das was posted in Ajit Pratap Singh's place, and Arindam Nath and Dhruva Nath were replaced by Deputy Inspector General (Northern Range) Soumitra Dhar and Deputy Inspector General (Intelligence) L Darlong respectively.
Raju Reang, another officer probing the alleged scam, has been removed too. Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajoy Kumar Das has been transferred to the crime branch and put in charge of the case.
Police had detained former CPI-M MP Narayan Kar, besides two personal guards of Mr Chowdhury, in connection with the alleged scam on Thursday morning.