Tripura suspends 15 police footballers

Agartala: Tripura Police on Friday suspended 15 police footballers and barred them from playing for two years for severely assaulting the referee and three linesmen during a football match.

The incident took place Thursday when the police footballers brutally assaulted the referee and three linesmen during a match against a local club here at the Umakanta Stadium. "After a high level meeting, all the 15 police footballers were suspended from service. Departmental proceedings would be initiated against them and they would be barred from playing football for two years," Inspector General of Police Nepal Das said. "After the local club won the match 2-3, the police footballers became very angry and started beating the referee and three linesmen injuring them," said Das. The condition of Shivajyoti Chakraborty, also a former national referee, and linesman Jayanta Roy was described as serious. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar held a meeting with chief secretary Sanjay Kumar Panda and director general of police C. Balasubramaniam and reviewed the incident. Tripura Sports Minister Sahid Chowdhury, condemning the incident, has asked the Tripura Football Association, which organised the football match, to take suitable measures to prevent such incident in future. IANS