IMPHAL/NEW DELHI, Sept 27: A team of CBI officials, led by the
agency’s special director Ajay Bhatnagar, will reach Imphal in a
special flight on Wednesday to investigate the “kidnapping and
killing” of two students who went missing in the northeastern
state on July 6, sources said.
The decision was taken within hours of the case being handed
over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the
Manipur government.
The team led by Bhatnagar, the second-in-command in the
federal agency, will also have joint director Ghanshyam
Upadhyay, who is camping in Imphal, sources said.
The team will comprise officers who have expertise in special
crime, crime scene recreation, interrogation and technical
surveillance. It will also have experts from the CBI’s elite Central
Forensic Science Laboratory, the sources said.
Photos of the bodies of the two missing youths went viral on
social media, leading to protests by students in the state. The
photos surfaced on social media on Monday.
Altogether 45 students, many of them girls, were injured in
Imphal Valley on Tuesday as the police fired tear gas shells and
baton-charged protesters demonstrating against the killing of
two youths who were allegedly kidnapped in July, officials said.
Chief minister N Biren Singh posted on X: “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.”
“To further expedite this crucial investigation, the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director, along with a specialised
team, will be arriving in Imphal tomorrow morning in a special
flight. Their presence underscores the commitment of our
authorities to swiftly resolve this matter,” Singh said.
The CM further said he has been in constant touch with Union
home minister Amit Shah to find the perpetrators of the
killings.
The state government earlier said the case has already been
handed over to the CBI.
Photos of the bodies of the two students — Phijam Hemjit (20)
and Hijam Linthoingambi (17) — who were missing since July,
went viral on social media on Monday.
One of the two photos purportedly showed the students with
two armed men and the other was of two bodies.
Police had previously said the whereabouts of the two were not
known and their mobile phones were found switched off.
The last location of their mobile handsets was traced to
Lamdan, near the winter flower tourist spot in Churachandpur
district, police had said.
More than 175 people have been killed and several hundreds
injured since ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state
on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the
hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s
demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population
and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including
Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in
the hill districts. (PTI)
