Manhunt continues for killer Tripura trooper

Agartala - A manhunt continued Saturday to nab the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) trooper who allegedly killed five of his family members, including his wife, Friday following a family dispute, police said.

"Security forces led by senior police officials continued their hunt to detain the TSR rifleman Bijoy Reang (25). The Border Security Force has also been asked to keep a close watch on the border to prevent him from escaping to the other side of the India-Bangladesh boundary," Inspector General of Police Nepal Das told IANS.

He said a departmental inquiry would be conducted to ascertain details about the incident.

Reang late Friday night suddenly came to his in-laws' house at Dhumachara in northern Tripura and allegedly sprayed bullets from his service rifle killing five people, including his 24-year-old wife, sister-in-law (13), mother-in-law (42), father-in-law (52) and brother-in-law (19). After the massacre, he fled the spot, police said.

According to police, Reang recently married a cousin of his wife keeping the latter in the dark. When Reang's first wife Supriya Tripura came to know about it, she filed a case with police.

Police had recently filed a chargesheet against Reang in the case that may have prompted him to take such an extreme step, the IGP said.

"Following the filing of the case and a departmental probe, the police authority suspended Reang from service. Recently he joined service after withdrawal of suspension order," TSR eighth battalion commandant Prabir Majumder said.

Tripura Police's most elite unit, TSR, has earned kudos from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and many state governments, besides various central paramilitary forces, for successfully flushing out over four-decade-long terrorism in the northeastern state.