Replica gun stolen from Agartala war memorial

Agartala, March 19: A replica gun placed in a war memorial in Agartala, Tripura, has been stolen, police said on Thursday. The war memorial is situated in the midst of a sprawling park and between the state civil secretariat and the Tripura High Court. It was reconstructed and iugurated by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Vijay Diwas (Victory Day) on December 16 last year.

The war memorial was built to commemorate the sacrifices of Indian soldiers during their battle with the Pakistani Army along the Tripura frontier during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. “A complaint was lodged by the military with the New Capital Complex Police Station on March 8, after the replica gun was stolen with an iron helmet. We are probing the incident but no clue yet,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (central) Rajendra Datta told IANS.

The gun was placed upside down and was a wooden replica of a self loading rifle, a weapon extensively used in the battle with the Pakistani soldiers. On the top of the gun was an iron helmet.

During the Bangladesh liberation war, 10 million men, women and children from then East Pakistan took shelter in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya. (IANS)