Source: The Sangai Express
Moreh, January 12:
The border town of Moreh which has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons is again on the brink of another upheaval following the killing of a man by 24 Assam Rifles personnel under contradictory claims.
The incident took place at Chavangphai yesterday at about 8.30 pm and the deceased has been identified as Jangkhotinmang Haokip.
Chairman of the Hill Tribal Council TT Haokip has already lodged a complaint with the Moreh police and a case has been registered.
According to locals, the incident took place when 24 Assam Rifles personnel in civvies came to Chavangphai last night at about 8.30 and started beating up some people.
The victim who was warming himself by a fire at the court yard of one Holngam Mate got alarmed and rushed inside his house.
The Assam Rifles personnel fired towards the house and the victim received a bullet wound on the right thigh which penetrated through and got lodged on the left thigh, said the local people.
Though injured the victim was also beaten up by the security personnel, they charged and added that he died while he was being taken to Imphal for treatment.
When this correspondent contacted the CO of 24 Assam Rifles, the officer replied that he himself led a team to Chavangphai to launch an operation after receiving specific information.
The CO said that as they approached the residence of Holngam Mate they saw 7/8 persons in suspicious manner.
�Some of them who were armed surrounded our vehicle while others were on alert at the courtyard of Mate,� added the CO.
They however ran away when they realised it was the Assam Rifles, explained the CO and added that his men opened fire when they did not heed the warning to stop.
One single barrel gun was also recovered from Haokip, he claimed.
However the Kuki Movement for Human Rights in an open letter to the Chief Minister alleged that Jangkhotinmang was killed after arrest.
Demanding immediate action against the AR personnel, the rights body said that a judicial inquiry should be ordered to probe the matter, to pay life long pension to the young widow of the late man and to provide free education to the two children of Haokip till they graduate.
The rights body further accused the CO of Assam Rifles of refusing to take the grievously injured Haokip to Imphal, insisting that it would be done so the following day.