DIPR office vandalised, one held
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 21 2023: A self proclaimed karyakarta of BJP vandalised the auditorium of DIPR at Keishampat and assaulted two media persons by using the name of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, today at around 12.15 pm.

The accused has been identified as Meitram Sanatomba alias Sana Meitram (44), s/o (L) Ibopishak of Sega Road Takhellambam Leikai.

The Manipur Pradesh BJP has however made it clear that the miscreant is not related to the party in any field or activity.

The motive behind the act of vandalism remains unclear.

Of the two assaulted media persons, one is a non local reporter who was covering the ongoing unrest in Manipur while the other is a female staff of an Imphal based web portal.

Notably, the DIPR Manipur has been providing internet facilities to media persons as the internet has been shut down since the first week of May due to the clash between two sections of people.

It is reported that Sanatomba approached the DIPR complex and asked all the media persons inside to vacate the auditorium using harsh language.

He then locked the auditorium from outside.

A few minutes later, the accused came back with a bunch of keys which he forcefully took from the wife of the DIPR chowkidar and started destroying the routers and internet cables inside the auditorium.

As he ran amok inside the auditorium and started assaulting a reporter of a media house based outside Manipur, one female journalist tried to stop him but she too was mishandled by the accused.

Reportedly, Sanatomba left the place after locking the DIPR office in his moped.

According to a report culled from the spot, the accused made a phone call to an unknown person whom he claimed to be the Chief Minister by putting the phone in a loud speaker mode.

Soon after the incident, some local media persons rushed to the Chief Minister's Secretariat and held a meeting with Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister clarified that he didn't give any instruction to anybody to vandalise the DIPR office.

The Chief Minister also assured of deploying security personnel at the DIPR office to ensure the safety of media persons.

Later, Sanatomba surrendered before the City police station.

The accused is likely to be produced before the Court concerned tomorrow.

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