Agartala, October 25, 2025: Former union minister of state Pratima Bhoumik was stopped by police on Saturday while traveling from Agartala to Dharmanagar to attend a scheduled event. The incident took place near Tripura’ Naillah Bari in the Ambassa subdivision of Dhalai district, where police had erected barricades in response to recent unrest in Kamalpur’s Santibazar area.

Bhoumik was halted at the Naillah Bari checkpoint, where senior police officials and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate were present. She later proceeded to the Ambassa-Kamalpur junction, where additional barricades had been set up. There, she engaged in a brief conversation with Dhalai district’s Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Uttam Banik.

Despite her route not passing through the affected area, Bhoumik was prevented from continuing to Dharmanagar. Expressing her frustration, she remarked, “This is my government, yet I’m being stopped by barricades. It’s bizarre.”

Former BJP MP Pratima Bhoumik voiced strong criticism of the police response to recent unrest in Santirbazar, questioning the timing and intent behind the barricades that blocked her route to Dharmanagar.

“There was a prior announcement about picketing on October 23,” she said and asked “Where was the police when hooligans unleashed violence in Santirbazar? Where were the barricades on the day of the actual incident? And now, when I’m simply heading to Dharmanagar, you’ve set up barricades to stop me?”

Referring to a specific incident, Bhoumik added, “A TCS officer and an engineer were brutally assaulted on the evening of October 23. Where were you then?”

The barricades were reportedly installed as a precautionary measure following tensions in Santibazar, though the exact nature of the unrest remains unclear.