Amidst day’s long tussle among the two rival factions of Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) and alleged attack on former captain of state cricket team and vice-president of TCA, the oppositions Tipra-Motha and Congress strongly condemned the incident and make responsible the state government for the war of power inside TCA.

Earlier, on Saturday a group of mob allegedly attacked the vice-president of TCA, Timir Chanda, when he along with secretary of TCA Tapash Ghosh tried to enter into the office complex of TCA at Post Office Chowmuhani near West Agartala police station. Later, police and security forces rushed to the spot and rescued the both authorities of the cricket body.

While, castigating factional feud of TCA and silent role of state government, particularly the Chief Minister and Sports Minister, opposition leader Animesh Debbarma  said that due to inner clash of power by rival faction of TCA sponsored by the ruling BJP urges the attention of BCCI to protect the cricketing interest of Tripura.

He said that in brought-daylight in front of two police stations and in the heart of Agartala city, miscreants of rival factions had attacked each other with arms and weapons. He asked where is the security of common people and fighting among TCA factions shows that the law and order situation of the state totally broke down and the Chief Minister and Sports Minister became silent spectators.

He said that after seeing the day's long drama, why the Chief Minister is totally silent and why the government is not taking any steps to stop violent activities inside the TCA complex.

“When, a miscreant is showing a pistol to his rival members in front of TCA office, why not police take any action,” said Debbarma and added that nobody can be safe in the city. He also hoped that the Chief Minister will take action against such hooliganism and to take steps to protect the overall interest of Cricket players of the state.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Pradesh Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha has also strongly condemned the inner fight of TCA functionaries and blamed the ruling faction for such kind of ugly episodes.

Mentioning the factional feud of TCA authorities allegedly led by two rival factions of BJP, Ashish Saha demanded high level investigation and a statement by Home cum Chief Minister and Sports Minister of the state. “The way miscreants showing arms in front of a large number of police and security forces in the busiest Post-Chowmuhani area of Agartala city, reflected there are no rules of law and miscreants don anything at any place of the city,” said Saha.

He also urged the state government to take immediate steps to protect the interest of hundreds of cricket players of the state.

Earlier, on Saturday Tripura police had booked five persons, including Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) president for allegedly assaulting the vice president and secretary of the cricket association.

A case was lodged at West Agartala police station based on the complaint from TCA vice president and former captain of state cricket team Timir Chanda and TCA secretary Tapas Ghosh, who alleged that TCA president Tapan Lodh and other four members physically assaulted them at their office on Saturday.

Police said that an investigation has been started and they will serve notice to the accused persons on Sunday. The accused have been booked under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, said police.

On the other hand, the TCA President has written to the secretary of the Home department seeking a probe into alleged financial embezzlement in the procurement and installation of four towers of high mast LED floodlights at Maharaja Bir Bikram stadium.

Tapan Lodh in his letter Home secretary said “An unprecedented and exorbitant expenditure to the tune of Rs.16 crore approx. which had been decided to be incurred, for the installation of high mast LED flood lights at MBB stadium. There are precedences from the past to show that such installation of high mast flood lights at Narsingarh International Cricket Stadium required only an expenditure of Rs.1 crore per tower completed.”

Lodh stated that even as the issue was discussed in the general body meeting, it was decided that the matter be handed over to a “skilled agency” for investigation.

“The general body, therefore, decided to get the matter investigated by a skilled agency as to whether there is any corruption in the procurement and work for installation as discussed above. TCA cannot do this investigation on its own for the lack of skilled agency within its administrative setup at present,” and Lodh appealed to the state government to engage a special investigation team (SIT)  to prove the alleged scam.