Photo Courtesy: nenow
Agartala: Tripura authorities expanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from three to ten members to probe the death of Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Dhankar. The 1994-batch IPS officer died on July 20. Staff found him in the washroom of his Agartala headquarters office. The original three-member team, led by West Tripura Superintendent of Police Namit Pathak, launched on July 24.
The expanded team now includes Additional Superintendent of Police Dhruba Nath, officers from the Cyber Crime unit, Amtali, West Agartala Women, Battala, and Ramnagar stations, plus an instructor from the KTD Singh Police Training Academy and investigator Subhojit Deb. Officials mandated daily briefings and weekly reports for the Inspector General of Law and Order. The team must work with absolute confidentiality.
Dhankar previously served as DGP of Intelligence. He held roles with the CBI, BPR&D, CISF, and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. He also led the MHA team investigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He took office in Tripura on May 17, 2025, and held a term scheduled until 2027. His son, Abhishek, performed his final rites on July 22 in Baraut, Uttar Pradesh.
Political opposition remains skeptical. On Monday, nine CPI(M) legislators met Governor Indrasena Reddy Nallu to demand a probe supervised by a sitting Tripura High Court judge. Led by Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, the delegation argued that a police-led investigation lacks public confidence. The memorandum states, "Without expressing any concluded opinion on the correctness of such claims, we respectfully submit that the existence of these doubts itself makes it imperative that the truth be established through an inquiry that is demonstrably independent, transparent and beyond reproach."
The delegation requested the preservation of all CCTV footage, forensic data, and official communications. The group included Deputy Leader Shyamal Chakraborty, whip Nirmal Biswas, and MLAs Md Islam Uddin, Dipankar Sen, Ashoke Mitra, Ramu Das, Shailendra Chandra Nath, and Sudip Sarker. Separately, Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman and other opposition parties continue to press for an independent judicial review. The CPI(M) has announced statewide Jail Bharo agitations for August 10 to protest current governance and demand further action.
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