NEW DELHI, March 17 (TIWN): Tripura’s BJP government has been left red-faced by an Agartala High Court order this week quashing a lookout circular intended to prevent the entry of an NRI hailing from the state into India.

Saumen Sarkar, a Vice-President with the Bank of America, runs the Tripura Infoway news portal that focuses on his home state.  Sarkar says he has encouraged fearless reporting in his news portal which got him into trouble with both the former ruling CPI-M and then with the incumbent BJP governments.  His portal has attracted defamation cases from CPI-M state secretary Gautam Das and incumbent Chief Minister Biplab Deb, besides other leaders of both camps.  The state government on January 18, 2020, moved for and finally secured a lookout circular against Sarkar, who periodically visits his parents and relatives in Agartala.  Sarkar immediately challenged the lookout circular in court, saying that this was a ploy to prevent him from visiting his ailing parents.