On Sunday ICA minister Sushanta Chowdhury offered homages to the innocent Bazar Colony residents who were shot dead brutally by the ATTF Militants on this December 12 night, 1996 .
Bazar Colony genocide on this day in 1996 was committed by a murderous band of ATTF militants. The killer squad armed with AKs stealthily arrived at mid night and first cordoned off the entire village ( para) which was only a stone throw away from main Kalyanpur -Khowai road and also close to the police station . The killers first set the houses aflame and as the sleepy villagers rushed out they were brutally shot dead, some were hacked to death. Even the cattle were burnt. 24 were killed and several were injured… The bloodied bodies of men and women lay scattered in all conceivable places- behind the cattleshed, by the pondside, under the mango tree, beneath the cot, backyard of the burnt home…. everywhere…they were dead even before they could understand as to what actually happened…only those who were hacked saw the killers before falling on the ground and dying… The scene was exactly like those you see in some Hollywood movies…and the killers looked like those Khmer rouge characters you see in the film “the Killing Field”…
The killers were led by ATTF commander Chitta Debbarma and the brutal genocide was ordered by ATTF president Ranjit Debbarma, who is now roaming around freely along with a politician…What an irony !!!
The area Bazar Colony was also the locality of late CPM MLA Makhan Chakrabarty…till 12 noon he was screaming – — Sob re maira laichhe …sob re maira laichhe…The Officer in Charge of Kalyanpur policestation was Kshitish Debnath. It also only the previous day a yung IPS HImangshu Gupta had taken over charge as SDPO–and within hours he had to face one of the worst killings. Later Himangshu Gupta changed cadre and left Tripura.
BJP Leader L K Advani and Tapan Sikdar visited the spot.