Manipur in Turmoil: MHA to Look Into Manipur 'Fake Encounter'

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home affairs will look into the fake encounter in Manipur in the light of the ‘confession’ of a Manipur police commando claiming that he had killed an unarmed insurgent in cold blood.

This statement pointing to a fake encounter has sparked widespread outrage in the northeast state.

“People are agitated and the family feels that injustice has been done to them. They want a fresh probe. Although they have lost their son but if a probe reveals that the confession made by the commando is true then they will at least get justice” said Editor Free Press, Pradip Phanjoubam.

Manipur police head constable Thounaojam Herojit Singh had reportedly confessed that he shot 22-year-old Chungkham Sanjit Meitei, a suspected member of the insurgent group People s Liberation Army (PLA), in a busy market area in Imphal on July 23, 2009. Herojit Singh has reportedly accepted that Meitei was not carrying arms and that he allegedly carried out the action on the orders of his superior.

According to Singh, he pumped bullets into the former PLA militant acting on orders from his senior, the then Additional Superintendent of Police in Imphal. He said that he shot at Meitei with a 9mm pistol on chest. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the Centre has taken “cognizance” of the said reports on the purported confession.

“I will get the information and then I can comment…then we will look into it,” Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a visit to Kerala, told the media in Thiruvananthapuram.

Congress leader R P N Singh questioned the silence of the police commando in the matter for all these years but said it needed to be investigated if the reported confession was true. Ibobi Singh of the Congress was the chief minister at the time of the alleged fake encounter. Asked by a TV channel why he had not reported the matter at the time of the encounter, the commando said he had feared for his life.

Chungkham Taratombi Devi, mother of Chungkham Sanjit who was killed on July 23, 2009 Manipur fake encounter case, has filed a petition to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) requesting a fresh investigation into the recent disclosure made by Thounaujam Herojit Singh, one of the accused involved in the killing of her son.

At the same time, the petition also requested the CBI to submit supplementary charge sheet against the police officers and politicians, who ordered the killing of Chungkham Sanjit.

Under the current circumstances, Taratombi was of the view that a fresh investigation into the new disclosure is highly required in order to put an end of the impunity by superior officer and politicians who give illegal order for murder.

Meanwhile, the JAC formed against the killing will held a public meeting on Friday at Khurai to discuss its course of action.