Agartala, May 21: Sushil Chowdhury, the editor-cum-proprietor of Ganadoot Patrika, a vernacular daily, today declared a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the criminals involved in the triple murder of employees of the newspaper on Sunday.

Police, however, continued to be in the dark about the possible motive and identity of the assailants.

Interacting with the media at Agartala Press Club for the first time since the murder of Ranjit Chowdhury, Sujit Bhattacharjee and Balaram Ghosh, Chowdhury said: “I will give a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh to anyone who will help in the arrest of the culprits that so cruelly and inhumanly murdered three of my employees.”

He said he would pay Rs 1 lakh each to the bereaved families of the three non-journalist employees as “interim relief”, in addition to their provident fund and other dues.

Chowdhury said he did not suspect any individual or organisation for the murders but expressed confidence in the investigation carried out by the police.

The editor thanked chief minister Manik Sarkar who visited his office yesterday, accompanied by director-general of police Sanjay Sinha.

“The chief minister visited the crime scene and spoke to the bereaved family of slain driver Balaram Ghosh and instructed the DGP to spare no pains in bringing the culprits to book; the chief minister also assured me of security and government assistance within the purview of law,” Chowdhury said.

He added that the entire administration was standing by him and he had no reason to fear. He also refused to term the killing of the three persons in his office as an instance of “fragile law and order situation”.

“This is an unprecedented incident which has happened nowhere in the country; it is an exception and this can never be a commentary on the law and order situation. When the chief minister himself is so serious about the matter, I hope the case will be resolved soon,” said Chowdhury.

The investigating officers of the case have found a complaint filed the slain manager of the newspaper, Ranjit Chowdhury, against registration of a costly plot of land and building close to Ganadoot Patrika office.

“In the complaint Ranjit Chowdhury had said the plot of land and building had encroached on government land and no transaction should be allowed by the sub-registrar of Sadar subdivision, with whom the complaint had been filed,” said a police source involved in the investigation.

He added that this angle was being examined thoroughly and possibly held the most crucial clue to the murder. “Ranjit Chowdhury was a target but we believe the two others were eliminated mainly to wipe out eye-witnesses to the crime; the killers might have been known the slain trio; we will soon round off the investigation and go for arrests,” the source said.