Agartala, Nov 22 (IANS): A Tripura police officer succumbed to injuries sustained after he was hit by a vehicle of suspected drug smugglers at Kalamchoura in Sonamura town, police said.

According to police, Sub-Inspector Durga Kumar Hrangkhawal, 39, was hit by a speeding vehicle carrying drugs at Kalamchoura in Sepahijala district on Thursday midnight and subsequently succumbed to his injuries on Friday in the government-run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital.

"The police team led by Hrangkhawal was looking for three vehicles as they were carrying contraband drugs. One of the vehicles hit the police official," a spokesman said, adding that the other members of the police team could not stop the speeding cars.

Tripura's Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Shukla and other senior police officials paid their last respects to the martyred policeman at the Martyr Memorial' in Arundhutinagar on the outskirts of the capital city.

Terming the killing as a "deliberate murder", Nath announced Rs 10 lakhs as initial government aid to the wife of Hrangkhawal, a father of two children.

Police Chief Akhil Kumar Shukla, also termed the murder a "planned killing", and said that a hunt is on to nab the smugglers and their vehicles.