Proposed Sadar Hills bandh suspended
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network
Imphal, May 10 2013 :
The proposed indefinite Manipur bandh to be called by the joint action committee seeking justice for Seitinlal Kipgen and Tongkhosat Haokip, who were found dead on the top of a hillock near Nongpok Sekmai on May 8, was suspended after Manipur Government gave a positive response to the Kuki Students' Organisation, Sadar Hills during a meeting here on Friday.
Meanwhile, the families of the two victims have claimed the bodies.
The bandh was to begin from 4 pm of Friday.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, also holding the portfolio of Home, IFCD minister Ngamthang Haokip, Saikul constituency MLA Yamthong Haokip, representatives of KSO, Sadar Hills, Thangmilan Kipgen, president, KSO, Sadar Hills told reporters.
It started at 9:30 am and continued till 10:30 am.
During the meeting, Gaikhangam assured the Kuki student body that the police will be able to nab the suspects within 10 days and that the Government will soon announce ex-gratia and also will provide suitable Government jobs to the families of the deceased, Kipgen said.
Bodies of Kipgen and Haokip, which had been lying in the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), were claimed by the families following the talks with the Government and later taken them to their respective villages.
They had gone missing since April 29.The duo was found dead at Kamu Ching, a hillock near Nongpok Sekmai under Yairipok Police Station in Imphal East district on May 8.The corpses were highly decomposed.
Kipgen, 50, hailed from Bongbal Khullen in Saikul sub-division in Sadar Hills, Senapati district and Haokip, 35, a native of Masenjang village in Churachandpur district had been reportedly kidnapped by unidentified persons from Nongpok Keithelmanbi near Kamu Ching on April 29 and since then their whereabouts remained unknown.
Seitinlal owned a pharmacy at Nongpok Keithelmanbi before while Haokip had been working at Bongbal village as a carpenter.
It is said that they went up the hill in search of their buffaloes on that day.