Agartala, March 24: Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar today admitted that the state had witnessed “sporadic violence” following the declaration of Assembly election results.

Replying to a call attention motion on the concluding day of the budget session, Sarkar gave full credit to the Election Commission for taking adequate security measures to ensure that the poll process remained “peaceful without any untoward incident”.

The elections were held on February 23 and the results declared on March 7. “The 13-day period between February 23 and March 7 was on the whole peaceful, though four cases of violence were registered at various police stations. In one such incident, a Congress supporter’s house was allegedly set ablaze by CPM activists,” Sarkar said.

Between March 7 and 16, 88 complaintswere registered. Of these, 30 cases were filed by the CPM, 46 by the Congress and eight by the INPT, the House was told. “The clashes left 40 CPM supporters, 32 Congress activists and eight INPT supporters injured.

Altogether 123 persons, including 65 from the CPM and 57 Congress workers have been arrested. Police have filed chargesheets in eight cases while the remaining complaints are under investigation,” Sarkar said.

No murder or rape case had been reported, he said and praised the police for timely action to prevent violence. “The police are closely monitoring the situation to prevent a repeat of such untoward incidents,” he added.

Replying to another call attention motion on problems of barbed wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh, Sarkar said villagers with farmland and homestead outside the fenced area had been facing problems because of the timing of opening and closing of the gates.

Surrender spree: Five insurgents of three outfits have surrendered while two other militants have been arrested in separate incidents, adds PTI.

Tapan Debbarma of the ATTF surrendered before the sub-divisional police officer of Teliamura, Sanjoy Roy, at Teliamura in West Tripura district last night. He handed over a pistol and a grenade made in China.

Two insurgents of the Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT) surrendered before the officer-in-charge of Kanchanpur police station.