A bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans was torched by unknown miscreants in Kangpokpi district of violence-hit Manipur around on Monday night, police said adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
The incident happened at Kangpokpi bazaar around 8.30pm, within hours of a high-level meeting on the security situation in Manipur, chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
Police said the bus, bearing registration number MN 06B-0463, was coming from the deputy commissioner’s office in Kangpokpi district towards Kangpokpi police station. It was stopped by some unknown miscreants who gathered into a mob at Kangpokpi bazaar, alleging that the bus belonged to the Meitei community.
Immediately, a team of Manipur police from the police station concerned rushed to the spot. However, a mob gathered in the surrounding area, blocking National Highway-2 (Imphal-Dimapur) at Kangpokpi bazaar, and the police could not get free passage to rescue the vehicle. Later, the police team dispersed the irate mob, and the vehicle was towed to a safe location led by the officer-in-charge of the same police station.
On Monday, Amit Shah had announced that additional forces will be deployed in Manipur, if necessary, while issuing a firm directive to take strict action as per the law against the perpetrators of violence.
On Sunday, security forces had recovered arms and ammunition from the foothills of Gangpijang hill ranges, Kangpokpi district, during a search operation. The recovered items included one 7.62mm AK-56 assault rifle, one .22 rifle, one 12-inch single bore barrel gun, two improvised projectile launchers, one Chinese hand grenade, one country-made hand grenade, one 51mm mortar, and 15 rounds of live ammunition.
The Manipur Police Control Room on Monday said police officers from Assam and Manipur had a joint night street meeting at Jiribam along the Assam-Manipur border on Saturday in connection with the prevailing scenario in the region. Regular patrolling and area domination have been intensified in the entire riverine stretch of the Barak and Jiri rivers, it added.
On Friday, security forces arrested three cadres of valley-based insurgent groups from Shantong near Lamlong village in Tengnoupal district. They were identified as Thiyam Lukhoi Luwang, 21, and Keisham Premchand Singh, 24, of Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), and Inaobi Khundrakpam, 20, of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)-Noyon group, the police control room said.
