Death of teenage girl : Kanglatongbi tense
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 18 2012: A tense situation has engulfed Kanglatongbi after the brutal murder of 16 year old Pushpa Basnet.

People of Kanglatongbi and surrounding villages blocked NH 2 since this morning in protest against the brutal murder of the young girl.

Moreover, a joint action committee has been constituted.

Pushpa Basnet who was reading in class XI at Presidency College, Motbung was found dead at the foothills of Awang Leikinthabi under Sekmai police station at about 7 pm yesterday.

On the other hand, Khumanthem Ingo (27) s/o Apabi of Maharabi Maning Leikai who reportedly had a love affair with Pushpa is undergoing treatment at RIMS after he consumed some toxic substances.

Nevertheless, Sekmai Police have been keeping a close watch on Ingo.

The highway blockade was so intense and the situation was highly charged that even Works Minister Dr Kh Ratankumar who was going for a field inspection of NH 2 was detained for about 20 minutes.

Womenfolk blocking the highway against the 'murder' of a girl

The Minister's team crossed Kanglatongbi using by-lanes at about 8.30 am but one Scorpio jeep which was part of the entourage suffered some damages on the wind-shield as they were attacked by the people with stones.

The team returned to Imphal on the Sapermaina-Saikul-Imphal road after skirting Kanglatongbi.

A police team led by Imphal West SP Konsam Jayenta tried their best to mollify and drive back the agitating mob.

But the aggrieved and infuriated people were not convinced.

Soon the stand-off between the two sides turned nasty and police fired several rounds of tear gas shells and mock bombs causing injuries to at least four women and two men.

The injured persons were taken to Sekmai PHC by the same police who fired tear gas shells and mock bombs.

Despite all the efforts of police, the mob had their way and the highway was blocked for the whole day.

On account of the blockade, a large number of vehicles and passengers were stranded both at Sekmai and beyond Kanglatongbi in the North.

MLAs Nemcha Kipgen and Khwairakpam Devendro went there and talked with the agitating crowd.

Meanwhile, post mortem examination of Pushpa's corpse was conducted today at RIMS.

Another source informed that it looked like Pushpa consumed some toxic substances.

It did not look like a case of rape and murder.

On the other hand, Pushpa's father Prithi Man Basnet has appealed to the authorities concerned to do justice in connection with the killing of her daughter.

Pushpa reportedly went away from their tea stall located at Sekmai Nongthongband at about 10.30 am yesterday saying that she was going to college.

Prithi and Pushpa ran the tea stall together during day time and went back to their Tispari home at evening.

As Pushpa failed to return even it was already dusk, the worried father asked his younger daughter to call Pushpa through mobile phone.

But the phone calls were never received and finally the phone was swtiched off.

Before this, one Nepali woman named Gita came to the tea stall and talked with Pushpa through mobile phone at about 5 pm.

"I heard like Pushpa was saying that she would put up the night at the house of her friend Ranjita at Kanglatongbi", Prithi said.

"I construed this from what Gita was saying.

But I could not hear Gita", the father said.

However, when Ranjita's mother was contacted at night, it was told that Ranjita was away at Silliguri.

Prithi was conveyed about the death of her daughter by his younger brother Bhim Basnet at about 8.30 pm.

On the other hand, Ingo reportedly disclosed that he and Pushpa were having affairs since five months back.

They went to Millenium Garden in his brother's Hyundai Eon car yesterday.

They also went to a restaurant located near the garden.

They had a quarrel inside the restaurant when Ingo tried to hold Pushpa's hand.

Ingo took Pushpa till Kanglatongbi and dropped her there.

But instead of going to her college, Pushpa boarded a bus which was heading towards Imphal.

Ingo followed the bus.

In the meantime, Ingo received an SMS from Pushpa which asked him (Ingo) not to come after her ever again.

At Nagamapal, Pushpa caught an auto-rickshaw and went towards RIMS.

Ingo pursued her and they came back together in the car.

On the way to Sekmai, they bought some toxic substances (insecticide) and both of them consumed the substance.

However, he managed to inform about his state to a time-keeper of Tata Magic vans plying on Imphal-Sekmai route.

Acting on the information passed by the time-keeper, Ingo's family came to his rescue and he was rushed to Catholic Medical Centre, Koirengei.

Ingo is driver of a Tata Magic van plying on Imphal-Sekmai route.

He was drinking water from Sekmai river when his family members came to his rescue.

Notably, the Eon car was found near the spot where Pushpa was found dead along with a insecticide can labelled as Super Killer.

Some people of Awang Leikinthabi said that they saw the car driving towards the foothill.

The foothill was a popular meeting place for many boys and girls.

After a gap of about 30 minutes, some people came there in a mini-van and started shouting.

It was later learnt that a dead body was lying nearby.

It looked like the girl was brought dead there, they said.

Meanwhile, the Awang Sekmai Nongthonband Youth Club has condoled the mysterious death of Pushpa Basnet.

It also urged the Government to award exemplary punishment to all the culprits.

The JAC formed in connection with the death/killing of Pushpa had meeting with the Chief Minister late this afternoon.

The JAC submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding befitting punishment to all the culprits and provide compensation to the bereaved family.