The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against seven accused in a case alleging loot of arms and ammunition from the 2nd Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), Narenseina, in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on August 3, 2023.
The charge sheet has been submitted in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati (Assam). The accused have been identified as Laishram Prem Singh; Khumukcham Dhiren aka Thapkpa; Moirangthem Anand Singh; Athokpam Kajit aka Kishorjit; Loukrakpam Michael Mangangcha aka Michael; Konthoujam Romojit Meitei aka Romojit; and Keisham Johnson aka Johnson.
The CBI had registered the case on August 24, 2023, to take over the First Information Report (FIR) instituted by the Moirang police, following a reference from the Central government.
As alleged in the FIR, the incident took place on August 3 last year when a large number of armed miscreants and their associates looted more than 300 arms, close to 19,800 ammunition and about 800 types of munitions and other accessories from two rooms of the battalion headquarters located in Kote inside the Quarter Guard, 2-IRB.
In January, the CBI had charge-sheeted five persons on the allegation that they were involved in the loot of arms and ammunition from the Manipur Police Training College (MPTC) in Imphal’s Pangei on May 4 last year.
Among those named were Moirangthem Anand Singh, Athokpam Kajit alias Kishorjit; Loukrakpam Michael Mangangcha alias Michael; Konthoujam Romojit Meitei alias Romojit; and Keisham Johnson alias Jhonson.
It was alleged that a mob had stormed into the MPTC Pangei complex and taken away a large cache of arms and ammunition from the armoury during the Manipur ethnic violence that had broken out in the State.
