E-Paper
Woman recruiter of teen rebels held in Manipur
A combined team of Manipur police commandos and Assam Rifles today arrested a woman allegedly involved in recruiting teenage boys for outlawed outfit People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK). HT reports.
A combined team of Manipur police commandos and Assam Rifles on Friday morning arrested a woman allegedly involved in recruiting teenage boys for outlawed outfit People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK).
The woman has been identified as Sapam Chonbi alias Premabati Devi, 37. She confessed to recruiting teenagers for PREPAK from Sairenkhul area in Manipur capital Imphal, a police officer claimed. Arrested from near Sairenkhul LP School, she reportedly disclosed her ‘commander’ was one Kanba Singh of Bishnupur district.
On Thursday, villagers of Sairenkhul had detained and interrogated her on suspicion that she was involved in recruiting some boys who had disappeared from the area in the last few days. But she managed to give them the slip.
Six boys had disappeared from Sairenkhul area since mid-March, believed to have been recruited by PREPAK. Locals have been demanding the release of the boys pointing out they were too young to work for any rebel groups. They have been organizing sit-in protests too.
Three of the six boys – Chanam Ajoynao, Sapam Suran and Soraisam Naothoibi, all aged 15 years – went missing on April 7 after they had gone to watch a local football tournament in an adjoining village. Four days later, Laishram Pangalba, 16, and Yambem Ningthem, 18, also vanished without a trace.
