Over two months after two Manipur students went missing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two men and two women in connection with the case which has put Imphal on the edge yet again.
Paominlun Haokip, Malsawn Haokip, Lhingneichong Baite, and Tinneikhol were nabbed by CBI on Sunday in an arrest that was like a “surgical strike”, officials on the ground said. The Manipur Police, in its investigation report of August 2, had said that it was impossible for the Imphal Police to go to the hills of Churchandpur to investigate, given the ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities.
‘Surgical Strike’
A joint team of Manipur Police and the Indian Army collaborated with CBI to pick up the accused from Henglep. The operation began early on Sunday but the immediate roadblock was the two minor daughters of one of the suspects. Leaving them behind could have alerted locals and led to tension. “There was no one in the family to take care of them so a decision was taken to allow them to accompany their parents in transit to Guwahati,” a CBI official told News18.
The group of six, including the two minors, was whisked away to Imphal from the hills of Churchandpur just as locals started gathering to protest.
“Even in normal conditions, arrest of any accused leads to some protest from family, etc. This was an unprecedented situation we were dealing with. Multiple agencies — police, army, paramilitary were at work,” a senior officer on the ground told News18.
A top Manipur Police officer added: “A day earlier, we had carried out a similar operation and handed over a suspect to NIA. That experience helped. Central agencies are getting full cooperation from the local police.”
Race Against Time
CBI officials were waiting at the Imphal airport to take the suspects to Guwahati — the designated court for the case.
The last flight out of Imphal was at 5.40pm and then began the race against time to cover the 51km distance to Imphal. Senior officers got on the phone to coordinate with the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation), BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security), and CISF which guards the Imphal airport. “There are rules followed by BCAS and DGCA for flight operations. There was some tension about whether the team escorting the suspect would make it on time. Ultimately, no untoward incident happened. All agencies were on board to ensure that the suspects were flown out as per plan,” an official in the know told News18.
Fallout of the Arrests
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh posted on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after the arrests that the main accused had been arrested and his government would seek capital punishment against the four.
“I’m pleased to share that some of the main culprits responsible for the abduction and murder of Phijam Hemanjit and Hijam Linthoingambi have been arrested from Churachandpur today. As the saying goes, one may abscond after committing the crime, but they cannot escape the long hands of the law. We are committed to ensuring maximum punishment, including capital punishment, for the heinous crime they have committed,” he posted.
However, the back-to-back arrests — first by NIA and then by CBI — have led to a complete shutdown in the hills of Manipur. Tribal body ITLF (Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum) questioned the alacrity with which the arrests were carried out. “The (ITLF) condemns in the strongest terms the selective haste of central investigating agencies, who arrested four Kuki-Zo tribals, including two women, without the knowledge of local authorities and abducted two children from their homes. There were no women police officers and no juvenile police unit as required by law when the secret operation was undertaken,” Ginza Vualzong, spokesperson of ILTF, said.
More Arrests Soon
While CBI is likely to seek custody of the suspects for further questioning, the real challenge, officials said, is to locate the bodies. “Photos on social media indicate that the two youngsters are dead. But to prove it in court, the bodies, or at least some parts, will have to be recovered. DNA samples have been taken to establish the case,” a probe official said.
Preliminary investigation by CBI suggests that the two youngsters — 17-year-old girl Luwangbi Linthoingambi Hijam and 20-year-old man Phijam Hemanjit — were last seen together on July 6. Investigators suspect that the two Imphal residents had strayed into Kuki areas.
“They were taking selfies in the area when volunteers at Jaupi village warned them to move away from Kuki areas. Eyewitness accounts suggest the couple obliged but Hemanjit strayed further to a Kuki bunker to ask for Marijuana. A gypsy carrying armed Kuki militants soon arrived at the spot and took them away to an unknown spot,” the initial probe suggests.
