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Manipur: Vehicle carrying chief of radical group Meitei Leepun attacked
Six bullets were reported to have hit the vehicle carrying Pramot Singh, who was booked in July for allegedly promoting enmity between groups and criminal conspiracy amid ethnic violence in the state
Unidentified assailants fired on a vehicle carrying the chief of Manipur’s radical group Meitei Leepun at Langol in Imphal on Friday morning, people aware of the matter said. Six bullets were reported to have hit the vehicle even as more details and a police statement were awaited.
The people said Pramot Singh’s vehicle was attacked near a hospital around 7:10am. “I am fine and doing well. The bullets did not hit me and the driver of my vehicle also escaped any injuries,” said Singh over the phone from Imphal. The attack took place when Singh’s driver was trying to park the vehicle.
Singh, 56, was booked in July for allegedly promoting enmity between groups and criminal conspiracy on a complaint from a Kuki group amid ethnic violence in the state.
The violence between the dominant Meitei and tribal Kuki communities has since May 3 left at least 175 people dead and over 50,000 displaced.
Kuki groups have blamed radical organisations Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol for instigating and perpetuating the violence in Manipur.
Singh was booked after an interview with journalist Karan Thapar of The Wire on June 7. He allegedly called Kukis outsiders and not indigenous to Manipur in the interview.
Members of Arambai Tenggol clad in black uniform took out a rally to pay tribute to their colleagues killed in the ethnic violence after a fresh bout of violence erupted in Meitei-dominated Imphal valley late in September. The violence erupted after photos of the bodies of two students from the community missing since July went viral on social media.
On May 26, Arambai Tenggol announced that the outfit was being dissolved temporarily amid the ethnic clashes.
