Tension grips Moreh Town after fierce battle between police, locals
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Moreh, February 12 2015 :
Tension gripped Moreh town Thursday night on the eve of the visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh following a fierce confrontation between security personnel and a local mob that torched the gate of the SDPO office and engaged in arson.
The quietness of the night in the town was disturbed as police lobbed tear gas, fired rubber bullets at the mob and resorted to blank fires.
The situation was reported to be tense but stable at the time of filing this report.
According to sources, the border town was fortified with heavy security deployment to foil any untoward incidents.
Several police commando teams were placed in strategic locations to frisk passers-by.
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One of the teams reportedly noticed two persons on a motorcycle moving in a suspicious manner.
The security personnel ordered them to stop as they approached the check point.
However, one of them reportedly pulled out a small arm and fired a shot into the air.
The police fired several times into the air in an attempt to stop them from fleeing the spot.
Shortly afterwards, some people from the nearby areas started pelting stones towards the police commandoes who resorted to firing blank rounds.
Charging the police personnel of firing at residential areas, women and youths poured into the streets from all directions and marched towards the police commando complex and SDPO complex.
They allegedly attacked the two buildings with fusillades of stone missiles.
The police did not retaliate for more than one hour and confined themselves inside the buildings.
This did not deter the mob who piled up and burnt rubber tyres and flammable materials near the gate of the SDPO office and threw more missiles into the campus.
The SDPO gate reportedly caught fire.
At this point of time, the policemen returned the attack by firing several rounds of rubber bullets and tear shells towards the assembled crowd and live bullets in the air.
The reprisal successful dispersed the mob.
According to sources, a sense of normalcy has returned to the town.
IGP S Manglemjao and Chandel SP P Priyokumar were stationed in Moreh at that time to personally oversee the security preparation.
An investigation has been launched into the incident and a team of 9-A AR also arrived to help the state police in maintaining order.