Agartala: Tripura High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to submit a chargesheet on the investigation into the murder of TV journalist Santanu Bhowmik along with other relevant documents.

Santanu, 29, a reporter with local cable news channel Din Raat, was hacked to death on September 20 while he was covering a demonstration by the IPFT, an indigenous party demanding statehood, at Mandai, 25km from here.

A petition for allowing a CBI probe into the murder was earlier filed in the high court by Santanu's father, Sadhan Bhowmik. Sadhan's counsel Samrat Kar Bhowmik told this correspondent that the state government's representative had tried to argue that a special investigation team, probing Santanu's murder, had already submitted a chargesheet in the chief judicial magistrate's court on December 12. Advocate Kar Bhowmik argued that mere submission of a chargesheet is not an impediment to reopening of the case by another investigation agency if it is found prima facie that the investigation is "tainted"."A tainted investigation can only lead to a tainted judgment," he pleaded before a division bench of Chief Justice T. Vaiphei and Justice Subhashish Talapatra. The high court will hear the petition on January 24.

The court had earlier issued notices to the Centre, state government and the CBI to furnish their opinions on a petition to allow a CBI probe into the murder.

A counsel, appointed by the CBI, on Wednesday sought two weeks' time from the court to study relevant documents and affidavits. Assistant solicitor-general of India Himangshu Deb also pleaded for more time in the case. Public prosecutor of the state government Subrata Sarkar was not available for comment.