AGARTALA April 18 (TIWN): Scattered by the Rose Valley salvo from opposition leader Sudip Roy Barman and the subsequent pressure from in and outside party, the Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar took no chance and expelled the murder accused party leader Jiten Das before the media could further tarnish party as well as his image.The once blue eyed boy of the CPI(M) in the state (owing to his closeness with some party heavyweights), the former Zilaparishad President of West Tripura District, Jiten Das was expelled from the primary membership of the party after the police arrested him for allegedly murdering his wife Kalpana Das on Thursday morning. Crippled by the Rose Valley episode, the ruling party which was quickly losing public support for the alleged involvement of the party top brass with different chit fund companies watched the developments closely and took almost two days after the murder incident to take the decision. The party tried hard to save the blue eyed boy but with mounting pressures from various quarters especially the media, the already jittered state unit took the decision to expel the party leader. Though the party press note informed that the murder accused was expelled after his arrest, it is the other way round since the police waited for the green signals from the top brass of the ruling government to go ahead with the arrest process, believes the political analysts here.

It may be mentioned here that almost all the top brass of the party are away from the state as they are participating in the 21^st Congress of the party in Visakhapatnam. The state unit secretary Bijon Dhar and other leaders including Chief Minister Manik Sarkar were regularly being updated with the developments of the murder case, claims a source within the CPI(M). With the Rose Valley salvo looming large on the Chief Minister and the CPI-M as a whole, the party did not want to take any chance in delaying the arrest process further and to put forward the example of proper enforcement of law in the state, the party dumped the once blue eyed boy Jiten Das, claims the analysts here.

It may be mentioned here that the Ranirbazar police had arrested the prime suspect husband Jiten Das, his two brothers and one nephew on Friday for allegedly murdering Kalpana Das.

The accused will be produced to court today, and the police is expected to demand for custody of the accused for interrogation.