Abducted CPI-M leader released

The underground National Liberation Front of Tripura guerillas released senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Ranjit Ghosh on Tuesday night after an 11-day drama.

State Home Minister Samar Chowdhury said the ultras were forced to release Ghosh because of persistent combing operations by paramilitary forces and locals since October 3.

The rebels had abducted Ghosh, the CPI-M's divisional secretary, from a party office at Manik Bhandar in Dhalai district. During the kidnapping, they sprayed bullets killing a policeman and injuring four others.

Another tribal leader and legislator Debbrata Koloi is still under NLFT captivity. He was kidnapped by the militants from Dhumachara on July 31.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader and former chief minister Samir Ranjan Burman alleged that the ruling CPI-M paid a Rs 3.5 million ransom to secure Ghosh's release.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta, Burman claimed the state government did not react to Koloi's abduction. But when it came to one of their own, he alleged, the CPI-M was all activity.

He demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the incident, and urged the Centre to dismiss the government for its failure to maintain law and order.

UNI