Tripura Chief Minister assures to expedite inquiry against RSP MLA

Agartala, Nov 25 (UNI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has assured the Assembly that the state government would take steps for immediate completion of the investigation against RSP MLA Partha Das, accused of possessing fake Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate.

Leader of the Opposition Ratan Lal Nath raised the issue yesterday in the Assembly and demanded the Chief Minister's statement on it, but Left Front MLAs protested, saying that the matter was pending with the Court because during investigation it had been found that the MLA's elder brother also possessed fake certificate. The RSP is a constituent of the ruling Left Front in the state.

However, Mr Nath demanded cessation of the membership of Partha Das from the Legislative Assembly, which compelled the Chief Minister to assure the House that the government had already started investigation and would expedite the process swiftly.

According to report, the state vigilance department found that one Chandan Das, a homeopathic doctor of Tripura government and elder brother of newly elected RSP MLA Partha Das, had joined the service with a fake SC certificate. It was, however, detected early this year that the family did not belong to the SC community.

The Vigilance authorities termed the practice as ''criminal offence'' and forwarded the report to the state SC Welfare department recommending punishment for Dr Das last week and subsequently it was referred to the department concerned for taking action.

Meanwhile, the SC Welfare department conducted departmental enquiry into the case and found that Dr Chandan Das had first acquired the certificate from West Tripura District Magistrate in 1975 and after six years of issuance of the certificate, in 1981, the authority had issued SC certificate to his father Paresh Chandra Das and younger brother Partha Das, who was elected to the Assembly from SC-reserved 31-Shalgarha constituency as RSP nominee.

''Since one certificate was found to be fake, it is suspected that the entire family managed SC certificates by producing fake documents and those have to be cancelled,'' a senior official of the state SC Welfare department said.

Mr Nath sent a fax message to the Election Commission yesterday, seeking cessation of Mr Partha Das's membership from the state Assembly, as he had submitted false affidavit to the Commission.

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