Agartala: Tripura Assembly on Monday witnessed uproarious scenes over the Yusuf Commission report with opposition Congress demanding adjournment of the House immediately for a full discussion over the assassination of former health minister Bimal Sinha by insurgents.
During the Zero Hour, Leader of Opposition Sudip Roy Barman demanded suspension of all business for a discussion over the contents of the judicial inquiry commission headed by Justice (retired) M A Yusuf over Sinha’s assassination on March 31, 1998. When Speaker Ramendra Debnath turned down the plea suggesting the proposed discussion be taken up later, entire Opposition bench stood up in protest, accusing the ruling CPI(M) of having suppressed the report for 16 years as the party had been involved in the conspiracy leading to Sinha’s killing. Amid the din, the Speaker adjourned the House for half an hour.
When the House re-assembled at 12.40 PM, the Opposition again started shouting demanding adjournment of all other business for discussion on the Yusuf Commission report.
With members of the Opposition and treasury bench both having started shouting, the noise continued unabated and the Speaker adjourned the House again till 2.00 PM, making an announcement that the matter could be discussed on April 7, the last day of the budget session.
The House functioned normally after lunch break from 2.00 PM. Later, Barman told reporters that assassination of Sinhawas the result of a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. Reading out portions of the report, the LoP said Sinha had close contacts with the NLFT militants and had secured release of many abducted by acting as mediator.
“The special investigation team constituted by the state government under the stewardship of the then IGP K Saleem Ali had not made its findings available to the commission, in fact Saleem Ali had kept mum when asked by the commission whether he was suppressing the report at the instance of the state government,” Barman quoted the commission’s report as saying.
“It clearly shows who did what,” he added. “All 27 accused are now free because they secured acquittal from the high court while the three National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants are safely sheltered in government quarters with monthly stipends. It shows clearly what happened in the case of assassination of Bimal Sinha,” Barman said. Tripura government had constituted the judicial inquiry commission under Justice (retired) M A Yusuf to probe the assassination of Bimal Sinha.
Even though the commission had submitted its reports in January 2000, the Left Front government sat over the report for 16 years and only acted following a directive issued by the Tripura High Court in January this year. (PTI)
