A family fears the worst as 2 bodies with gunshot wounds are found in Manipur

Imphal West SP Shivakanta confirmed that the body of a middle-aged woman, which had a bullet wound, was found in Tairenpokpi area on Wednesday. He said that the identity has not yet been confirmed and the body is currently at the morgue at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences. The body was recovered from the jurisdiction of Patsoi police station in Imphal West around 12:30 pm Tuesday.

The man’s body was recovered from Kongba Ucheckon late Tuesday evening under the jurisdiction of Irilbung police station in Imphal East. Official sources said the deceased was blindfolded and his hands were tied. According to locals, gunshots were heard around 6.30 pm. Later, passersby came across the body and reported it to the police. The deceased was wearing a camouflage pattern jacket and jeans. His body is currently at the morgue of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.

On Tuesday, around 8.45 am, five people from the Kuki-Zomi community who were travelling together in a vehicle, were abducted by unknown miscreants close to Kangchup Chinkhong. Four of them are relatives of Henthing Haokip, a soldier with the Indian Army. One of the people, 65-year-old Manglun Haokip, the soldier’s father, was rescued in a severely injured condition and airlifted to Dimapur for medical treatment.

Letkhoneh Haokip, the soldier’s elder brother, said that their family members were travelling from Churachandpur to Kangpokpi that morning. He said that another younger brother of his, who lives in Hyderabad, had married a woman from Kangpokpi, and his family were on their way to meet her family.

“It was a normal morning. They had left for a happy occasion and they were travelling on a route that we had heard other people had used… We are unable to speak to our father because he has not regained consciousness yet. And we have no idea where our mother, or the other missing people are,” he said.

Their mother Nengkim (60) is one of those missing along with another woman, Neilam (55), and two men, John Thangjalam Haokip (25) and Jamkhothang (40).

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum had held Meitei radical group Arambai Tenggol responsible for the abduction and issued a statement appealing that a search operation be launched by central security forces to rescue them, stating that “we fear they may have been killed or being tortured”.

According to ITLF, Kuki-Zomi “volunteers” angered by the incident retaliated on Tuesday. During this, nine Meiteis were injured in several locations.