The police are trying to trace former Tripura finance minister Badal Chowdhury

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb is taking action against the state police for failing to arrest former state finance minister Badal Chowdhury, who has been named in a First Information Report (FIR) linked to an alleged scam in the Public Works Department (PWD) worth up to Rs 600 crore. Mr Chowdhury was the finance minister during the previous Left Front government in the state. He is on the run.

Mr Deb has already suspended West Tripura police chief Ajit Pratap Singh as part of the state government's action against officers in charge of the search operation. Now, Deputy Inspector General (Southern Range) Arindam Nath has been removed from the post.

Seven more police personnel were suspended on Friday night.

The officer in-charge of West Agartala police station, Deba Prasad Roy, was suspended for inefficiency. Sub-inspector of West Agartala police station Pradeep Acharjee was also suspended on Friday night.

Three constables who were in the security detail of Mr Chowdhury were suspended for negligence. They are constables Ranjit Debbarma, Shyamal Debbarma and Kishore Routh. Two policemen who were engaged as the personal guard of the former minister were suspended on Friday night. They are constables Amar Krishna Sarkar and Amal Biswas.

Subrata Chakraborty, who was posted as officer in-charge of Amtali police station, has been transferred to West Agartala police station.

According to sources, on Thursday night IPS officers of the state led by DGP Akhil Kumar Shukla met with the chief minister and asked him to withdraw the suspension and removal order of their colleagues, Ajit Pratap Singh and Arindam Nath. According to sources, the chief minister did not give any assurance.

Till now, eight police personnel along with one SP, one inspector, one sub-inspector and five constables have been suspended. Many more have been removed from their post.

On October 16, the district and sessions judge rejected the bail petition of Badal Choudhury and from that day a heavy search operation has been launched by the police to arrest the former minister.

He has not been traced. The police have conducted raids at several places across the state.