DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday spoke to Tarun Prasad Chakma, the father of 24-year-old Tripura student Anjel Chakma, who was brutally murdered in an alleged racial crime in Dehradun earlier this month, and assured him of strict punishment against the culprits. He also told him that a special team has been dispatched to Nepal to nab the absconding accused.According to the chief minister’s office, Dhami expressed deep sorrow over the incident and told Anjel’s father over phone that a reward has been announced for the absconding accused and efforts were on to arrest him at the earliest.

The CM assured the family that the Uttarakhand govt would ensure exemplary punishment for the guilty. Dhami further said that the state was traditionally a safe destination for students from across the country and abroad, and the incident has caused distress not only to the victim’s family but to society at large. “Such an atmosphere never existed in Uttarakhand, and the govt will deal firmly with such cases,” he said.The CM also informed Chakma’s father that he spoke to Tripura chief minister Manik Saha, as well as Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh, regarding the case. He assured full support to the bereaved family and said the Uttarakhand govt would extend them all possible assistance. On Sunday, Dhami had said that “his govt has taken the case very seriously and any such incident is not at all acceptable in our state”.Meanwhile, Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh, said on Monday that preliminary findings didn’t indicate the involvement of “racial slurs” in the Tripura youth’s murder. “One of the five arrested accused is a native of Manipur while the lone absconding one is of Nepalese origin,” Singh said.“During interrogation, the accused from Manipur had said they didn’t direct racial slurs at Anjel and his younger brother; rather, they were passing those remarks at each other in a ‘lighter vein’. The brothers mistook the slurs as directed at them, the accused said, and amid the confusion, things escalated,” the SSP claimed. Singh also said the probe indicates that both the sides didn’t know each other.Earlier, taking cognisance of the matter, the National Commission for ST had served notices to Uttarakhand DGP, Dehradun DM and SP, seeking an action-taken report on the brutal murder.Meanwhile, chairman and founder of Tripura-based Tipra Motha party and member of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family, Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, slammed the Dhami govt over announcing a reward of Rs 25,000 on the runaway accused. “It is a mockery of the life lost from our Northeast. I am ready to give Rs 10 lakh from my pocket to anyone for information on the whereabouts of the accused,” Debbarma said.The MBA student from Tripura was allegedly attacked by a group of youngsters, including two juveniles, on Dec 9 after he objected to “racial slurs” while shopping with his younger brother in Dehradun. He succumbed to his injuries on Dec 26, triggering anger and outrage across the country.