Tripura/Agartala: The district as well as the session’s court of Tripura found a high profiled editor of a Tripura based newspaper guilty for murders of three newspaper employees. Editor of Dainik Gandoot, Mr. Sushil Kumar Choudhury was convicted by the court in these three murders that took place in Tripura last year.
Sushil Kumar Choudhury was arrested on 7th June 2013 in connection with these three gruesome murders.
It happened so that the newspaper’s manager Ranjit Chowdhury was aware of the editor’s engrossment in immoral acts as well as shady land deals. To shut his mouth, Sushil Choudhury along with his driver Balaram Ghosh planned to murder Ranjit. Sushil with the help of Balaram strangled Ranjit to death in his first floor office.
A Dainik Gandoot proof reader, Sujit Bhattacharjee heard shouts from Ranjit’s cabin and rushed there only to found the whole gruesome act going on. Sujit and Balaram both stabbed each other in the presence of the editor Sushil Choudhury. Balaram’s wife Niyati and his daughter too witnessed this crime and urged the editor to save Balaram but he denied that as a result of which Balaram lost his life too.
According to NDTV, The discovery of three bodies in Mr Chowdhury’s office with signs of strangling and stabbing caused a sensation across the northeast and added to the statistic of “murderous attacks on the media.”
At around 3:30 last year, this murder took place at Palace Compound where the office of this newspaper is based. According to information, Dainik Gandoot doesn’t have much circulation and it never reported any serious off-beat crime story which might put the editor in trouble. The editor had earlier claimed that the goons had come in search for him but he wasn’t present in the office at that time as a result of which they murdered his three employees.
Reports also claimed that two goons had come on a motorcycle and barged into the office. The Editor Sushil Choudhury had announced a Rs. 10 lakh reward for the person getting any details regarding the murderers.
Balaram’s wife Niyati was arrested long back for these murders. Earlier, she supported the theory stated by the editor but then she broke down and 
narrated the actual story to the police.
Speaking to Spectralhues, Yaseen Anwer, Managing Editor of Poet’s Corner said, “It’s sad but you know media is business now, so one should be shocked. He should be strictly punished and this crime should not be tolerated.”
Senior Journalist Kamya Chaturvedi told Spectralhues, “This is something very insane. Though heis one of the high profile editors but his mental temperament hasn’t been judged by his work.I mean if a person is not of the notion of the sensitivity of the post he holds is definitely insane and mentally imbalance. So the law would bring him to his right place.”
Shishir Roy, Journalist with Anand Bazaar Patrika told Spectralhues, “This is a stray case where some vested interest on the part of the editor was there like the shady business dealings and all.”
“See, it’s not that a mediaperson cannot be involved in business. Problem is when you commit a crime in that business and that’s why media’s image is tarnished,” he further added.
The editor has now been convicted by the court and has been charged under Sections 120 (B), 109, 34, 202, 302, 111, 113 and 201 of the IPC. Meanwhile, the court has acquitted Niyati of all the charges. The editor can face either a death penalty or life imprisonment for this heinous crime.
Tags: Dainik Gandoot Dainik Gandoot murder case Dainik Gandoot's editor Sushil Kumar Choudhury Tripura
