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Four held in Manipur over the killing of 2 Meitei students
The CBI has arrested four people in connection with the abduction and murder of two students in Manipur, leading to violent protests in the state.
Imphal/New Delhi
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested four people on Sunday in connection with two Meitei students’ abduction and murder, which stoked a fresh wave of violent protests in Manipur, chief minister N Biren Singh and officers aware of the matter said.
The four suspects —Paominlun Haokip, S Malsawn Haokip, Lhingneichong Baite and Tinnuphing— were arrested from the tribal-dominated Churchandpur district and moved out of the state by a special flight, the chief minister said. He added that the government was committed to ensuring maximum punishment for the guilty, including capital punishment, for the “heinous crime”.
“The CBI arrested four people from Henglep area of Churachandpur district for the murder of the two youths. They were taken outside the state by a special flight,” Singh said while addressing a press conference.
On September 25, photos of 20-year-old Phijam Hemanjit Singh and a 17-year-old girl, both missing since July 6, surfaced on social media. One of the photos showed them sitting on the ground in what appeared to be a forest with two armed men in the background, and another showed them apparently lying dead on the ground. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos.
Manipur Police said the two Imphal residents may have got trapped in an area dominated by the Kuki community while fleeing, after which they were allegedly abducted and murdered.
Hours after the photos went viral, violent protests broke out in the state with the agitators even trying to vandalise the ancestral house of the chief minister and properties linked to state BJP chief Sharda Devi. On Wednesday, hundreds of students spilled out on to the streets to protest against the killings. Several of them were injured in clashes with police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel.
“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 chief minister said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Speaking on condition of anonymity, officers aware of the matter said that the four suspects—all Kuki-Zo—were arrested following a joint operation by the police, army and state police.
A Manipur Police officer said Lhingneichong, is the wife of Wokkhogin Baite (36) alias Tiger, a Commander of the militant Kuki Nationalist Front (Zougam). “Tiger is believed to be the one who ordered the abduction of the two youngsters,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.
The police probe into the killings revealed that a day after they went missing, a new SIM card was inserted in the man’s mobile phone that was activated in Lamdan, a Kuki-dominated area, on July 7. The officer said that Lhingneichong was the one who had started the phone.
The Joint Students’ Body, a Kuki organisation, said the central probe agency also took an 11-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, the children of one of the accused, in their custody. A second Manipur Police officer said the agency might have take the children in their custody because they would not have found guardian for them. “The arrests were made from the outskirts of Churachandpur and the CBI may have had problems in finding a guardian to hand over the children to,” a Manipur police officer said on condition of anonymity. A crowd gathered outside the Churachandpur SP’s office on Sunday evening to protest the detention of the minors, the officer added.
Terming the arrests as “abduction”, several Kuki organisations declared an indefinite shutdown in Churachandpur from 10 am on Monday.
“The NIA and CBI are requested to release the abductees within 48 hours, failing which more intense agitation will follow in all hill districts of Manipur. All boundary areas with the Meitei will be sealed from tomorrow [Monday]. No one will be allowed to enter or leave the buffer zones. All government offices will be closed from tomorrow,” the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of Kuki groups, said in a statement.
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. At least 178 people have died and another 50,000 displaced in the violence.
