Tripura editor found guilty in triple murder case

Agartala, July 14 :

An Agartala court Monday found a Tripura newspaper editor-cum-owner guilty in a year-old triple murder case, a government lawyer said.

Kripankur Chakraborty, additional district and sessions judge of west Tripura district, held Sushil Choudhury guilty of killing three of his employees May 19, 2013.

“Choudhury is found guilty under sections 120 (B), 109, 302, 113, 111 and 201. Under these sections, the maximum punishment could be either death sentence or life imprisonment,” special public prosecutor Dilip Sarkar told reporters after the judgment in a packed court.

He said the judge would announce the quantum of punishment July 17.

Choudhury, 72, editor-cum-owner of Bengali daily Dainik Ganadoot, along with one of his woman employees was arrested weeks after the murder of three employees.

Choudhury was the main accused. Niyoti Ghosh, wife of Balaram Ghosh, the slain driver of the newspaper’s office vehicle, turned approver in the case and was let off.

She was arrested with Choudhury but during the course of investigation, she provided valuable clues to the police. The investigating officer then told her that she could turn an approver, a proposal she accepted.

Niyoti’s husband, manager Ranjit Choudhury, a former BSF employee, and proof reader Sujit Bhattacharjee were murdered in the newspaper’s office in the heart of the capital city last year.

Niyoti Ghosh and her 13-year-old daughter witnessed the murder of Balaram Ghosh, who was stabbed to death by two assailants. The culprits fled from the scene on a motorcycle. The family lived in the same building in which the newspaper office was situated.

The other two were killed because of a property dispute, police said.

(IANS)