'Govt-ordered probe an eyewash': Tripura Congress MLA demands judicial inquiry into DGP Anurag Dhankar's death

Tripura DGP Anurag Dhankar was found dead in state police headquarters on July 20

NEW DELHI: Tripura Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman on Sunday reiterated the party’s demand for a judicial probe into the death of state DGP Anurag Dhankar, who was found dead at the police headquarters in Agartala on July 20.”From day one, we have been demanding a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge into the unnatural death of the DGP, keeping in mind the circumstances leading to the recovery of his body,” he told a press conference at the Congress Bhavan in Agartala.”The condition in which we saw his body at the morgue was as if he was in deep sleep, with no visible wounds that are generally found in such cases. We strongly believe that a team led by an SP-rank officer cannot clear the many doubts surrounding the incident.

That is why we want a judicial inquiry into the unnatural death,” Roy Barman added.A three-member team headed by West Tripura SP Namit Pathak has been constituted to investigate the matter.Roy Barman termed the Tripura government’s decision to investigate the case through a three-member team as an “eyewash.” He alleged that the “honest DGP was heckled over some issues days before his death.”The Congress MLA also expressed disappointment over the Tripura high court not taking suo motu cognisance of Dhankar’s death.”The people of the state are also upset over the role of our high court. When the legislature, bureaucracy and media succumb, it is the judiciary that comes out and stands for the cause of people’s rights. Unfortunately, we have not seen the high court take any suo motu cognisance in many incidents in the state since former Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Gupta’s tenure ended,” he said.Dhankar, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, was a 1994-batch IPS officer of the Tripura cadre. He took over as the state’s DGP in May 2025.The officer had led the CBI probe into the alleged Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and the reinvestigation into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.(With PTI inputs)