Two bodies with bullet wounds found in Manipur

GUWAHATI: The Manipur Police have recovered two bodies, including that of a woman, with bullet wounds from separate locations in Imphal East and West districts, people aware of the matter said on Thursday, adding that the bodies are suspected to be of two of the four family members of a serving soldier abducted on Tuesday morning.

Till late on Thursday night, police and security forces were yet to trace the other two members of the family as well as the two Meitei teenagers who went missing on Sunday.

“Police have found two bodies, of a man and a woman. They were found at two different places. Both were shot dead. The description matches two of the four people who were abducted on Tuesday. With the help of the family, the identity of the two bodies will be ascertained,” a senior police officer said, requesting anonymity.

The body of a woman, believed to be in her early 50s, with a bullet wound on her head was found near Tairenpokpi in Imphal West district on Wednesday. “The body was taken to mortuary at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences for post-mortem [examination],” the officer said.

The body of a man, believed to be in his 40s, was found at Takhok Mapal Makha in Imphal East district on Tuesday. Police said the deceased was blindfolded, his hands tied behind his back and had bullet injuries on the head. The body was sent to the mortuary at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences for autopsy, the officer quoted above said.

Around 8.30 am on Tuesday, five Kuki people, all family members of the soldier, Henthing Haokip, were travelling from Churachandpur to Kangpokpi [both Kuki-dominated districts] in a Mahindra Bolero car. However, they were intercepted and attacked allegedly by a group of Meiteis when they entered Imphal West [a Meitei-dominated district] on the border with Kangpokpi, a senior police officer said.

Security officials said the soldier, Henthing Haokip, whose family members were abducted, is posted in Kashmir and attached to the Rashtriya Rifles — the Indian army’s counter-insurgency unit in Jammu and Kashmir.

The soldier’s father Manglun Haokip (65), who was among the five, was rescued by security forces but the mob managed to abduct the other four. He is undergoing treatment at the Guwahati military hospital in Assam.

The four abducted people have been identified as the soldier’s mother Nengkim (60), aunt Neilam (55), brother-in-law Jamkhotang (40) and cousin Thangjam Haokip (25). Their condition remains unknown.

While police are yet to verify the identity of the male body recovered in Imphal East, Kuki groups on Thursday claimed it was of Jamkhotang, the senior officer quoted above said.

Thanghul Haokip, the soldier’s eldest brother, said: “Police are yet to officially communicate to us about the bodies. We also cannot go to the mortuary where the bodies are kept as it is in Imphal, where Kuki people avoid travelling at this time.”

Tuesday’s abduction came two days after two Meitei teenagers were abducted in Kangpokpi when they were on their way to meet a friend on a two-wheeler on November 5.

Manipur Police have told a court in Imphal that they suspected the two Meitei boys — N Anthony (19) and M Avinash (16), both residents of Imphal —might have been killed by cadres of militant outfit Kuki Revolutionary Army(U). Police have arrested two KRA(U) members, but are yet to find the bodies of the two boys, and there is no official confirmation on their condition.

At least 178 people have been killed and 50,000 displaced since May 3 when ethnic clashes between numerically dominant Meitei and tribal Kuki communities broke out.

Meanwhile, Kuki groups on Thursday claimed that another community member has been abducted allegedly by armed miscreants. They identified the abducted man as Denis Thongminlen Haokip, son of a Kuki village chief from Kengjoy in Chandel district. Police are yet to verify the incident.