Tripura Police on Friday arrested journalist Saikat Talapatra from Sodepur in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on charges of defaming Chief Minister of the state Dr Manik Saha, his family members and several other politicians through his online channel.
A team of Tripura Police Crime Branch arrested Talapatra from a rented house in Muragachha in Sodepur and brought him to Agartala by flight, a police officer said.
There are several cases registered against Saikat Talapatra in various police stations of Tripura. Over the past few years, Saikat Talapatra had also defamed former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman, Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman and several other politicians through his YouTube and Facebook platforms.
After getting bail from a Tripura court in a case, he went to Kolkata and did not cooperate with the investigating authorities, leading the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against Talapatra last year.
Since 2021, Tripura Police teams had gone to Kolkata several times to arrest him, but Talapatra was absconding.
He continued to criticize state politicians on a regular basis. Saikat Talapatra was a full-time teacher of Tripura Government.
But, due to negligence in duty he lost his job. He also worked as the lead anchor of a local television channel before 2020.
