6 years later, the admission � 'Yes, I shot him dead, he was unarmed, officer told me to'
BT Road killing of July 23, 2009
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy - The Indian Express Esha Roy
New Delhi, January 27 2016:
In a
startling admission, the first
since his suspension over an
alleged fake encounter in
Imphal more than six years ago,
Thounaojam Herojit Singh, a
Manipur police Head
Constable and a gallantry award
recipient, has said he shot 22-
year-old Chungkham Sanjit
Meitei, a suspected member of
the insurgent group People's
Liberation Army (PLA), who
was "not armed" when he was
killed in July 2009.
"Yes, I shot him.
I shot
Sanjit Meitei.
No, he was not
armed," 35-year-old Herojit
Singh told
The Indian Ex-
press
.
"I felt no remorse, no
sympathy after I killed Sanjit.
I felt nothing.
It was an order
and I had to simply carry it
out."
Herojit Singh alleged he
was told by then Additional
SP, Imphal West, Dr Akoijam
Jhalajhit � he is now SP of
the same district � to "finish
him off".
When
The Indian
Express
sought his com-
ments on Herojit Singh's
claims, Jhalajhit sent a phone
text message: "Regarding the
matter I will issue a state-
ment."
Manipur Director General
of Police LM Khaute, Home
Minister Gaikhangam and
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi
Singh were not available for
comment despite repeated at-
tempts.
Asked why was he admit-
ting to the killing now,
Herojit Singh said: "Last
month, when I was returning
from a Court hearing in the
same matter, I was waylaid
by a group of police com-
mandos from my own police
station.
They took me to my
own PS, the Imphal West
police station, and kept me
there for five-six hours.
They
kept asking me about my
movements and what I had
been doing.
I am no longer
safe.
I am scared for my
life...
I no longer have faith
in the system,"
The "confession" by
Herojit Singh, who is one of
the nine accused policemen in
the case being probed by the
CBI, contradicts the Manipur
police account submitted in
Court and to the CBI.
The case was transferred
to the CBI in 2010.Sanjit's
mother Chungkham
Taratombi, who lodged an
FIR, had also petitioned the
Gauhati High Court in 2009.
The incident was high-
lighted in a Tehelka magazine
report which also published
photographs that showed
Sanjit being taken to the
Maimu Pharmacy � it's near
Gambhir Singh Arcade on the
busy BT Road in Imphal �
on July 23, 2009, and his
body being brought out a lit 'Yes, we have caught a man...
Yes, we have identified him'.
I told
him about the phone conversation I just had.
Then Akoijam
Jhalajhit told me, 'This is very good, finish him off'.
I was startled,
I told him that this is not the right place for an encounter.
He said
'Toukhro' (just do it).
I again pleaded, there was a huge crowd of
public at the spot by then and a lot of mediapersons.
He said, 'Don't
worry about the media, I will lead them away toward the Kangla
Fort Gate'.
He told me to just follow the orders and carry out the
execution," Herojit Singh alleged.
"So I went in.
I told my juniors to guard the gate.
There
was nobody in the pharmacy but Sanjit and I.The pharmacy
owner and a watch seller were standing outside the shop.
I
shot him six or seven times, all in the torso," he said.
"I'm sure Sanjit must have known that I had come back to
kill him.
I am sure he knew that when I was about to shoot
him.
But he didn't say anything.
"He didn't have any arms (weapons) on him
.
Just the
mobile phone we had found earlier.
Then the others came and
took away his body," he said.
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