Imphal, July 30: With regard to the armed KRA (U) claiming that Keisham Bishorjit Singh (32) s/o K Tomba Singh of Thiyam Konjin as an innocent citizen, SP (Imphal West) Th Radheshyam Singh affirmed that circumstantial evidence clearly justify action of the combined security team that had slain Bishorjit and Naorem Naobi alias Tenden (32) on july 28 at near Hiyangthang Oil Pump.

The SP (holding additional charge of IW as SSP L Kailun is on leave) in a statement issued today pointed to newspaper reports wherein wife of N Naobi alias Tenden alias S/S Maj Apao, Loitongbam Ningol (O) Abe was quoted as saying that she was unaware of her husband being a member of KRA (U) till the time of his death.

Abe is also informed to have stated that Apao left home on July 28 evening to return the Maruti Alto (red) car to its owner K Bishworjit.

"The statement of Smt Abe w/o the deceased major Apao clearly brings out that Bishworjit had been known to her and her husband and that the vehicle was not hijacked forcibly from Bishworjit," the SP highlighted to negate KRA (U)'s contention that the vehicle was hijacked and that Bishworjit is a civilian.

Further if the story of the KRA (U) is to be believed, it does not mention whether Bishworjit was in the car at the time of arrest and when and from where th vehicle had been hijacked forcibly, the SP maintained with reference to the armed group's insistence that Maj Apao had hijacked the car for some urgent works of the party which however did not materialise.

The KRA (U) had asserted that Maj Apao with four other cadres were on their way to Keishamthong Moirangthem Leirak to abduct a Government official but ran into a commando team resulting in the arrest of Apao who was the outfit's Army Chief.

The KRA (U) had also maintained that Maj Apao and Bishworjit were slain after being arrested while the other occupants manage to slip away.

To this the SP said the KRA (U) press communique does not explain why Bishworjit was in the vehicle (car) as Maj Apao knew how to drive having brought the same to his home (Abe's version).

Ridiculing the KRA (U) version regarding escape of the four cadres Radheshyam highlighted that all militant outfits always give priority on safety of their leader even at the cost of lives of a few cadres.

The fact that the cadres managed to escape while their Army Chief got arrested, is incomprehensible, he said.

Dismissing the KRA (I)'s story as a clear picture of fabrication and that it appears to have been built up merely to make a case that Bishworjit was an innocent civilian, the SP reiterated that S/S Maj Apao and Bishworjit were killed in the encounter that took place at Hiyangthang Oil Pump.

Items recovered after the shooting incident had been listed as one M-wire red in colour Alto Car bearing Regd No AS-012/AD-6889; one RC book of the car that stands in the name of Mrs Chiru Das (lecturer) of Gopinath Nagar, near Arya Vidyapith College, Guwahati which was found in the tool box of the car; one AK-56 rifles bearing Regd No 1727069 with a magazine having 18 live rounds; 12 Nos of empty cases of AK ammunition; a wallet containing Rs 500, a chit of the fighting unit of KRA (U) and driving licence in the name of Keisham Bishworjit Singh, the SP added.

It may be mentioned that apart from the KRA (U) describing Bishworjit as an innocent civilian, the JAC formed in connection with the Hiyangthang killings had claimed of Bishworjit leaving home with a sum of Rs 70,000 in addition to maintaining that the Alto Car belong to Keisham Birjit Singh, brother of the deceased Bishworjit.