Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Agartala: Tripura Director General of Police Anurag Dhankar was cremated with full state honours on Wednesday in his ancestral town of Baraut, Uttar Pradesh. The 60-year-old officer was found hanging in the washroom of his Agartala office on Monday. His son, Abhishek, lit the pyre as hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their final respects.
Dhankar, a 1994-batch IPS officer, was found after staff broke down his locked office washroom door. He had instructed subordinates to allow no visitors before 11 am that morning. Despite immediate transport to GB Hospital, doctors declared him dead at 12:48 pm following 48 minutes of emergency CPR. Dr. Pradip Bhowmik confirmed he was practically dead upon arrival.
"The DGP was practically brought dead to the hospital. Even so, as per protocol, CPR and all necessary emergency treatment were given for a long time before he was declared dead," Dr. Bhowmik said. A preliminary post-mortem confirmed death by hanging, according to Chief Minister Manik Saha.
Police have registered an unnatural death case. Investigating Officer Subhrajit Deb confirmed that all personal electronic devices, including a laptop, computer, and mobile phone, were seized. These will undergo forensic analysis at the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Narsingarh, a process expected to last six weeks.
Opposition leader Jitendra Chaudhury has rejected a standard police investigation, calling instead for a judicial probe led by a sitting Tripura High Court judge. Chaudhury claimed he spoke with Dhankar recently and found the officer deeply distressed. Other voices, including advocate Somik Deb, have urged the judiciary to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
Dhankar held a distinguished career, previously leading the probe into the 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. He served in the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and was promoted to DGP in May 2025. He is survived by his wife and son.
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