CBI nets six suspects in students' murder case
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 01 2023: A day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Kuki militant group's leaders named Seiminlen Gangte, amid the ethnic violence in the state, on the charge of transnational conspiracy to wage war against India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday rounded up six people, including two minors, in connection with the killing of two students who had gone missing on July 6 .

The adult accused have been identified as Paominlun Haokip s/o Thenkhogin Haokip of Kungpinaosen village, S Malsawn Haokip s/o Akbup Haokip of Phaikbdun village, Lhingneichong Baite and Tinneikhol, both daughters of Nohgin Baite of Bongmol village.

The two minors are girls aged nine and eleven years.

Sources said that the minors were rounded up as both their parents were among the accused persons and had no one to care for them.

The six were rounded up in an operation carried out around 2.30 pm by a CBI team led by DIG/CBI Mohit Gupta (IPS).

The accused persons were reportedly airlifted from Churachandpur till Imphal airport by an Army helicopter before being flown to Guwahati on an Air India flight around 6.20 pm.

The six were rounded up during intense search operation carried out since early morning by the CBI team in and around Kangvai area under Churachandpur district.

In protest against the arrest, large number of people, mainly womenfolk flocked to the Kangvai post of 9 Assam Rifles on the ground of involvement of AR trooper in the operation and subsequent arrest.

However, on being told that the AR unit has no involvement the protesters went to the offices of Churachandpur district's deputy commissioner and superintendent of police.

Demanding unconditional release of the six, the protesters squatted at the gate of the said offices prohibiting entry and exit of all.

Chief minister N Biren Singh, while confirming the arrests in a tweet on Sunday, said: "I am pleased to share that some main culprits responsible for the abduction and murder of Phijam Hemanjit and Hijam Linthoingambi have been arrested from Churachandpur today.

As the saying goes, one may abscond after committing the crime, but they cannot escape the long hands of the law.

We are committed to ensuring maximum punishment, including capital punishment, for the heinous crime they have committed".

The murder of the two students was the latest in a series of ethnic clashes between the Meetei and Kuki communities since outbreak of violence on May 3, which has claimed the lives of over 170 people were killed and nearly 60,000 persons were forced to flee their homes, according to official figures.

Hemanjit (20) and Linthoingambi (17) had gone missing on July 6 but presumed dead after photos of the lifeless bodies were widely shared on social media on August 22.The police said that the duo may have been killed by Kuki militants.

The murder sparked violent protests by students on September 26 and 27 including a mob trying to attack the ancestral house of the chief minister on September 28 night which security forces eventually foiled.

Another mob also vandalised the deputy commissioner's office in Imphal West district and torched two four-wheelers in the early hours of the same day.

The CBI took over the investigation into the case earlier this week.

On Sunday, the CBI announced that it had arrested six people in connection with the murders.

Two of the accused are the main suspects, and the other four are self-styled PSOs (personal security officers) and minors.

Mention may be made that on Saturday, an NIA team arrested Seiminlen Gangte on the charge of working at the behest of leaders of militant outfits based in Myanmar and Bangladesh in instigating violence in the state.

In a statement, the NIA had said: "Myanmar and Bangladesh based militant groups have entered into a conspiracy with a section of militant leaders in India to indulge in incidents of violence with an intention to drive a wedge between different ethnic groups and to wage war against the government of India" .

The NIA further stated that these militant outfits, based in Myanmar and Bangladesh, "have been providing funds to procure arms, ammunition and other types of terrorist hardware" .

It added that these weapons "which are being sourced both from across the border, as well as from other terrorist outfits active in the Northeast states of India" are being used "to stoke the current ethnic strife in Manipur".

The NIA claimed that the leadership of the militant outfits in Myanmar and Bangladesh, in collusion with the militant outfits in the Northeast are "exploiting the current ethnic unrest in the state of Manipur.

The NIA made this statement after the arrest of Seiminlen in connection with "transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh based leadership of terrorist outfits to wage war against the government of India".

Seiminlen was arrested in a joint operation with the Manipur police and was then taken to New Delhi for further interrogations.

The NIA had also stated that banned organisations in Myanmar are recruiting workers to carry out attacks on security forces and members of ethnic groups in violence-hit Manipur.

Manipur has been wrecked by ethnic clashes and large-scale violence since May 3 .

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