A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested four Kuki-Zo people, including two women, for allegedly abducting and killing two Meitei students who went missing in July, the hill districts in Manipur observed a total shutdown to protest the “arbitrary arrests.” The CBI on October 2 secured five-day custody of the four accused persons.
It is learnt that the designated Guwahati court, while passing the directions, observed that prima facie perusal of records showed that the arrests were justified and that the process laid down for arrests had been followed by the agency. Women personnel were part of the team.
The accused, identified as Paominlun Haokip, S. Malsawm Haokip, Lhingneichong Baitekuki and Tinneilhing Henthang, were arrested from Churachandpur in Manipur and taken to Guwahati by a special flight, in coordination with the local police and paramilitary forces on Sunday. They will be questioned by the agency for clues to locate the bodies of the victims.
The Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) had said that the two men were president and general secretary of KSO Leimata. A KSO representative said the four men and women and the two children were travelling together in a vehicle from Leimata to Churachandpur town when they were intercepted by the security forces and taken into custody. One of the suspects is a law student who had to flee Imphal after the current ethnic tensions between Kuki-Zo and the Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3.
Earlier, the CBI said it had registered two said cases on August 23, 2023, on the request of the Manipur government and taken over the investigations into the complaints of the parents of minor victims. The First Information Reports had earlier been registered at the Imphal police station on July 8, 2023, and at the Lamphel police station on July 19, 2023.
“Two minor children, who accompanied the said arrested accused during transit from Imphal [Manipur] to Guwahati [Assam], have been handed over to the District Child Protection Officer, Kamrup Metro District, for their welfare, protection and care,” the agency said. They are Ms. Lhingneichong’s children aged nine and 11.
Missing complaint
Meanwhile, the grandfather of the two girls, 8 and 10, who were also detained along with their mother, one of the suspects in the case, filed a missing complaint at the Churachandpur police station alleging they were illegally taken away.
On Monday, the CBI wrote to the Churachandpur police and requested them to inform the family members about the arrest of the four persons. “In view of the prevailing law and order situation and ethnic unrest amongst the communities of victim and accused side, at Imphal, the above information could not be provided earlier. It may kindly be acknowledged at the earliest that the family members of aforesaid arrested person have been duly informed,” the letter said.
The Committee On Tribal Unity (COTU), Kangpokpi said it would impose emergency shutdown on National Highway-37 until the authorities concerned expedite the safe release of Satthang Kipgen, a resident of Bijang village in New Keithelmanbi. The highway connects Silchar in Assam with Imphal in Manipur. It is one of the alternative routes used to supply essentials to the valley areas dominated by Meitei people. The other axis, Dimapur-Imphal National Highway-2 also passes through the hill districts of Manipur and has seen frequent blockades.
