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Delhi court extends NIA custody of Manipur violence suspect Seiminlun Gangte
Seiminlun Gangte was apprehended on Saturday by a joint team of the Manipur Police and the National Investigation Agency
NEW DELHI: Seiminlun Gangte, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Manipur on September 30 and brought to Delhi, will continue to remain in the custody of the agency for eight more days, a Delhi court said on Tuesday.
Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Sachin Gupta remanded Gangte in NIA custody till October 11 on a request by the agency which sought his custody for 10 more days, saying he was caught for his alleged involvement in the SUV blast case that took place in the Kwakta area of Manipur’s Bishnupur district on June 21 during the ethnic clashes.
Gangte, who was apprehended by a joint team of NIA and Manipur Police on Saturday, was brought to Delhi and produced before duty magistrate Komal Garg on Sunday who remanded him in NIA custody for two days.
At the time of his arrest on September 30, NIA said in a statement that Myanmar and Bangladesh-based militant groups had entered into a conspiracy with a section of militant leaders in India to indulge in incidents of violence to drive a wedge between different ethnic groups and to wage war against the Government of India.
The statement said that the leadership of the terror outfits had been providing funds to procure arms, ammunition and other types of hardware sourced from across the border and other terrorist outfits active in the northeastern states to fuel Manipur’s ethnic strife.
Gangte was arrested days after NIA took into custody another alleged militant, Moirangthem Anand Singh, who was arrested by NIA on September 24 and brought to Delhi as well.
Singh was first arrested by the Manipur Police on September 16 along with four others for allegedly wearing camouflaged uniforms and possessing an INSAS rifle, an SLR, two .303 rifles and multiple magazines. He is a former cadre of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur.
Clashes in Manipur first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after tribal groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.
Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders.
The clashes have virtually partitioned the state between the dominant Meitei community that lives in the plains and constitutes 53% of the state’s population, and the tribal Kuki group, which lives in the hill districts and makes up 16% of the state. At least 175 people have died and another 50,000 displaced.
