Two Journalists Murdered in Tripura: CBI Probe Continues, But Questions Over Delay and Lack of Visible Progress Persist
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, September 20, 2026
Nearly nine years after the murders of journalists Shantanu Bhowmik and Sudip Datta Bhowmik, the cases remain before the courts with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) handling the investigations. A recent communication from the Press Council of India has once again brought the status of the two cases into focus, while questions continue to be raised over the pace of investigation and the long wait for final judicial resolution.
The two journalists were killed within a span of about two months in 2017. Shantanu Bhowmik was killed on September 20, 2017, while covering clashes at Mandai, whereas Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead inside the RK Nagar, headquarters of the 2nd Battalion of the Tripura State Rifles on November 21, 2017. The two killings generated widespread protests and demands for an independent investigation.
In the Sudip Datta Bhowmik murder case, the initial investigation was conducted by Bodhjungnagar Police Station. Subsequently, considering the sensitivity of the case, a Special Investigation Team was constituted under then DIG Arindam Nath. The Tripura High Court records that the SIT filed a charge sheet on February 14, 2018, against four accused persons, including then TSR 2nd Battalion Commandant Tapan Debbarma. A supplementary charge sheet followed in June 2018.
The state police investigation therefore had progressed to the charge-sheet stage before the matter was transferred to the CBI. The Press Council of India's records also noted that the state police had filed the charge sheet and that the trial had begun before further proceedings were suspended following the decision to transfer the investigation to the CBI.
However, sections of the journalist community and political organisations expressed dissatisfaction with the state police investigation and demanded a CBI inquiry. Contemporary reports recorded demands from journalists' organisations for an independent central investigation, with allegations that the state-level investigation could not inspire sufficient confidence because of the circumstances surrounding the killings.
In the case of Shantanu Bhowmik, his family also sought a CBI investigation. At the time, the then Tripura government had initially defended the state police SIT, while journalists' organisations continued to press for a CBI probe.
The political situation changed after the BJP-led government came to power in Tripura in 2018, and the two journalist murder cases were ultimately taken up by the CBI. The Press Council records state that the CBI had taken up both cases by 2018.
The Sudip Datta Bhowmik case provides one of the clearest examples of the consequences of prolonged proceedings.
After taking over the investigation, the CBI filed its charge sheet on December 31, 2019, against Tapan Debbarma, Amit Debbarma, Nanda Kumar Reang, Dharmendra Kumar Singh and Swarupananda Biswas. Charges were framed under provisions including criminal conspiracy and murder. The case subsequently proceeded to the stage of prosecution evidence.
However, Tapan Debbarma, the then TSR commandant and a principal accused in the case, was granted bail in November 2021 after nearly four years in custody. Contemporary reports attributed the bail to the delay surrounding the filing of the charge sheet, although court records subsequently clarified that charge sheets had in fact been filed by both the SIT and CBI and dealt with the legal circumstances surrounding the bail.
Thus, it would be inaccurate to say that no charge sheet was filed. The documented position is that both the state SIT and subsequently the CBI filed charge sheets, while the prolonged proceedings and custody issues nevertheless resulted in the principal accused obtaining bail.
The Shantanu Bhowmik case followed a different trajectory. He was killed while covering a political clash at Mandai in September 2017. The state police initially arrested several persons and constituted an SIT. Journalists' organisations, however, demanded that the case be transferred to the CBI.
The CBI's handling of the case also became a matter of public concern. In 2018, the agency informed the Tripura High Court that it was facing difficulties in taking up the investigation, citing infrastructure constraints at the time.
Later reports and the Tripura government's more recent statements indicate that the case was ultimately taken up by the CBI. In March 2026, Chief Minister Manik Saha told the Assembly that both the Shantanu Bhowmik and Sudip Datta Bhowmik cases had been handed over to the CBI and that supplementary charge sheets had been filed in both cases, with the matters remaining sub judice before the Additional Sessions Judge, West Tripura.
The present situation has consequently produced an unusual contrast. The state police, having handed over the investigations to the central agency, have little public role to play in the ongoing investigation. At the same time, public information about subsequent investigative developments from the CBI has remained limited.
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