AGARTALA: Tripura police detained 23 members of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) of poll strategist Prashant Kishore in a city hotel since Sunday night. They are not being allowed to leave the hotel as the police said they were verifying their documents and ascertaining the motive of their visit.
The hotel sources said suddenly police stormed the hotel around 1am and demanded to see the hotel register. After identying the I-PAC team, the police allegedly called a few of the team members to come down for interaction but they declined, the hotel staff claimed.
“A large posse of armed police parked themselved in the hotel lobby at night and declared that I-PAC team cannot move out of the hotel until their investigation was over. The police continued to detain us till this afternoon and informed us that we can only be allowed to go to the airport. They told us none of our activities in Tripura are permitted,” said an I-PAC team member.
The I-PAC team came to the state four days ago on a weeklong visit for a baseline study of the prospects of Trinamool Congress. Sources said they have already interacted with influential political personalities, including ruling BJP MLAs and other leaders in various parts of the state. The I-PAC was scheduled to conduct a perception study in the tribal belts from Monday but the police told them informally not to proceed, the team members alleged.
The incident sparked strong reaction among the Opposition political parties, including the CPM and Congress. Trinamool Congress state president Ashis Lal Singha condemned the incident saying, “Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has proved his political immaturity by undertaking such illegal and undemocratic steps against an independent research group, which shows how scared the BJP is of Trinamool.”
