Two abducted men found shot dead
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 24 2009: In what appeared to be an act of vengeance, two villagers of Happyland who have been abducted by unidentified gunmen were found shot dead.

Following the incident, villagers of the neighbouring Chingnungkok fled for their lives.

According to police report, the two bodies were found lying along the side of the inter village road (IVR) running through an open field in between Happyland and Chingnungkok early morning today.

Ravaged house of Happyland village chief Vareso Luikham (Inset: people of a neighbouring village huddling together at a safe place)

Apart from abducting the two villagers, the unidentified gunmen had also allegedly set on fire the house of the Khullakpa of Happyland.

Information received from the site of the incident said that the two victims have been identified as Joyson Ningkham (35) s/o late Phongmi and Venture Shaiza (38) s/o late Simon.

Joyson was working as a clerk in the church of Happyland village while Venture was the member of the Village School Board.

It may be recalled here that on the night of September 21, Laithangbam Reagan (30) of Chingnungkhok, who was the field captain of the proscribed KCP (MC) and his guard Soreishang (26) of the neighbouring Tungkoi village were picked up by some unidentified armed persons from the house of one Lovejoy of Happyland where they were watching TV.

But their bodies were recovered the following morning near the foothill of Nongren.

Talking to media-persons, 42-year old Vareso Luikham, the Khullakpa of Happyland whose house had been set on fire last night, informed that he and his family members were not present inside the house at the time of the incident.

Maintaining that he did not have any idea as to why and who set his house on fire, the Khullakpa said that as a consequence of the last night's incident he would not like enmity or any unwanted incidents between the two neighbouring villages.

Properties worth Rs 2 lakhs including 10 bundles of GI Sheets, utensils, clothings and a cash amount of Rs 20,000 meant for village development fund and other documents kept inside the house have been reportedly destroyed in the fire.

The media team also noticed bullet marks allegedly fired by the unidentified armed persons at the house of one Ngathingkhui Das (56), who is a neighbour of the Khullakpa.

In this connection, Ngathingkhui informed that the two villagers who were found shot dead have been abducted by the unidentified armed persons from the house of one MC Robinson while they were watching TV at around 6.30 pm yesterday.

Along with the two abducted villagers, the unidentified armed persons came to the house of the Khullakpa and set it on fire apart from opening several rounds of uninterrupted firing.

Slain village church clerk Joyson was a bachelor staying with his 60-year old mother Ningtherla as three of his sisters have married while village school board member Venture who was also a former clerk of the village church was a married man who lived on farming and he left behind his wife, two sons and three daughters.

S Rita, mother of slain Venture said that she wants to know the identity of the killers of her son and why he had been killed.

Comprising just 38 households with a population of little more than 220 people, Happyland village had been established in 1967 .

Meanwhile, following the last night's incident, villagers of Chingnungkok have reportedly fled seeking asylum elsewhere.

A statement of the Chingnungkok Development Committee said that in the aftermath of the September 21 and 23 incidents, panic stricken villagers of Happy-land and Chingnungkok have fled from their houses for safer places.

While appealing to all concerned to ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future, the Committee has also drawn the attention of the State Govt in this regard.

The media team came across that apart from a handful of them, majority of the villagers in Chingnungkok which has a total population of 360 people, have fled from their houses and taken refuge at safer places either with their relatives or friends.

One Rajen, a villager of Chingnungkok informed that people of the neighbouring Chingnungkok Tungkoi, Happyland and South-Loushing have been normally living in mutual co-existence.

But after the recent violent incidents, tension has been running high in the area and there is strong apprehension of unwanted incidents among the people.

On the other hand, soon after the last night's incident, a team of Assam Rifles personnel took away five male villagers of Chingnungkok, though they were released afterward.

According to information received by the press, frighten by the sound of gun shots, the villagers, both male and female, were huddling together in a market shed when the Assam Rifles patrolling team on foot arrived and demanded to know why they were staying in such a manner.

On hearing the response of the villagers, the Assam Rifles personnel asked to which direction the gunmen had left and tried to take away some of the villagers to lead the way.

This was objected by the womenfolk.

Inspite of that, the AR team took away five of the male villagers identified as Athokpam Ingo (45), Khongbantabam Kumar (47), Huidrom Rabi (25), Sarangthem Tolen (30) and Laithangbam Kumar (48).However, all five of them were afterward set free from near the headquarters of Satjal (UFO) at Chingnungkok.