Replica gun missing from Agartala War Memorial

A replica gun placed in front of the new War Memorial in Agartala to pay tribute to the gallant soldiers of Indian Army who sacrificed their life during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War has gone missing for over a week.

A general diary has been lodged against the missing replica gun with the New Capital Complex Police Station by an officer of Agartala Military Station.

Tripura Chief minister Manik Sarkar had inaugurated the new military war memorial located in  a sprawling park to commemorate sacrifices of soldiers on 16 December last year on the occasion of ‘Vijay Diwas’.

On Dec 16, the Indian army accepted the unconditional surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops.  Since then the day is celebrated as Vijay Diwas.

The lost gun is a wooden replica of a SLR (self-loading rifle), extensively used in ground battle with Pakistanis in 1971 . It was positioned in reverse order with a soldier’s iron helmet on its top in front of the newly constructed war memorial is missing.

The planks in war memorial bear name of scores of heroes including Lance Naik Albert Ekka of Guards Regiment who was posthumously awarded Param Vir Chakra – India’s highest war time gallantry award.

Though the memorial stands on edge of Cantonment it is being maintained by the Agartala Municipal Corporation that provided land on Airport road for construction of the memorial after old one was demolished.

However, according to source there was no regular sentry for the memorial.