By IANS
Agartala : Two senior Tripura police officials were arrested on charges of committing a robbery during a search operation, officials said.
Following a report of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the police have arrested Tripura State Rifles (TSR) Commandant Manik Lal Majumder and Assistant Commandant Pinaki Samanta. The two would be produced before a court.
The police Tuesday recovered the iron safe in a broken condition from a jungle at Garjee, 60 km south of here.
“They would be suspended from their posts,” Director General of Police K.T.D Singh told IANS.
Majumder and Samanta, with some troopers, Sunday night stormed into a house at Ampi, 85 km south of here, and took away an iron safe containing large quantities of gold coins.
The tribal family was attending a social function at their neighbour’s house when the police team entered their house.
“The iron safe, two feet high and two feet wide, and the golden coins are the erstwhile princely property and three hundred years old,” house owner Purno Kumar Jamatia told the police.
“Because we have close relations with the erstwhile royal families of Tripura since (the days of) our forefathers, we worshipped the iron safe like our god,” said Jamatia, who is also a community head.
Senior police and CID officials, led by Deputy Inspector General of Police (CID) S.K. Darlong have investigated the case and interrogated the two TSR officials for their “mysterious role” in stealing the iron safe and golden coins.
Samanta, a senior Tripura Police Service officer, was honoured with Policeman of the Year 2007 award for his daring service in curbing militancy in the state.
“No living member of our family had ever opened the chest, as my grandfather-in-law saw a divine dream and forbade his clan from opening it. But we all believe it contained a golden idol of our deity Garia, gemstones, antique gold and silver coins and jewellery,” Jamatia told visiting reporters.