Imphal/Guwahati
Special CBI Director Ajay Bhatnagar reached Imphal in a special flight on Wednesday to investigate the “kidnapping and killing” of two Meitei students, identified as 17-year-old Hijam Linthoingambi and 20-year-old Phijam Hemjit.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh told media persons that Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured him that those who kidnapped and killed the two will be arrested and punished. “After landing in Imphal, they have started their investigation,” the CM said but did not disclose the place where the CBI team has gone.
The Manipur government declared the entire state a ‘disturbed area’ under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for a period of six months in the wake of the prevailing law and order situation. However, the status will not be implemented in areas under the jurisdiction of 19 police stations including the capital Imphal.
Earlier, after the news of their killing emerged, hundreds of students took to the streets to stage violent protests prompting security forces to fire tear gas shells and authorities to re-impose suspension of mobile internet services that were restored just four days back. As many as 45 students, including many girls, were injured.
The Bhatnagar-led team has a Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay, who is camping in Imphal and comprises officers with expertise in special crime, crime scene recreation, interrogation and technical surveillance besides experts from the CBI’s elite Central Forensic Science Laboratory, sources said.
The two photos of the missing Manipuri students, apparently clicked before and after they were killed, surfaced online on Monday night, sending the beleaguered State government in a tizzy and forcing the Biren Singh dispensation to promptly hand over the case to the CBI, taking no chances.
While one of the two photos showed the students with two armed men in the frame, the other was of two bodies. The two students went missing on July 6 and the police had said that their whereabouts were not known and their mobile phones were found switched off. The last location of their handsets was traced at Lamdan near the winter flower tourist spot in the Churachandpur district, they had said earlier.
“In light of the distressing news that emerged yesterday regarding the tragic demise of the missing students, I want to assure the people of the state that both the state and central government are closely working together to nab the perpetrators,” the Manipur CM said adding the presence of the CBI officers in the State “underscores the commitment of our authorities to swiftly resolve this matter”.
“I have been constantly in touch with Hon’ble Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” the Manipur Chief Minister said. The State’s swift move to hand over the case to the CBI is to avoid things to spiral out control yet again.
Sensing that the matter could lead to fresh tensions in the strife-torn State, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat had issued a statement asking people to exercise restraint and allow the authorities to investigate the kidnapping and killing of the two students. The State government said the case has already been handed over to the CBI.
“The State police, in collaboration with the central security agencies, are actively investigating the case to determine the circumstances surrounding their disappearance and to identify the perpetrators who murdered the two students. The security forces have also started the search operation to nab the perpetrators,” the statement said adding the government is committed to ensuring justice prevails and will impose severe punishment on any perpetrators found responsible for this heinous crime.
The Government further assured people of “swift and decisive action” against all those involved in the kidnapping and killing of Phijam Hemjit and Hijam Linthoingambi.
The government has urged the people to exercise restraint and to let the authorities handle the investigation, the Chief Minister’s secretariat said.
As many as 175 persons have been killed and hundreds injured in the State ever since ethnic clashes erupted between the Meiteis and the Kukis on May 3.
