Specialized CBI Team to Visit Manipur to Speed Up Investigation After Death of 2 Students As Protests Turn Violent

In order to hasten the investigation into the murder of two youngsters who were reportedly abducted in July, a specialized team of Central Bureau of Investigation personnel, commanded by Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, would go on a special aircraft to Imphal in the violent Manipur state on Wednesday. On August 25, the CBI received a referral for the case.

Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, has talked over the phone with N Biren Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, to go over the situation. Along with Bhatnagar, the CBI team would arrive with Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay and ten other officers.

Due to the current circumstances, the government once again suspended internet access for five days and said that all state-run schools would be shuttered until Friday.

Announcing the unfortunate death of the missing students, Biren Singh said on X (formerly Twitter), “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 Central Bureau of probe (CBI) Director, along with a specialist team, will be coming in Imphal tomorrow morning on a special aircraft,” he stated, “to further accelerate this vital probe. Their presence demonstrates how determined our officials are to address this problem as soon as possible. I have been in regular contact with the honorable union home minister Shri @AmitShah ji to track down the criminals and prosecute them.

A number of students were hurt earlier in the day in Imphal Valley when the police baton-charged protestors who were marching over the murders of two adolescents and shot tear gas at them.

24 Manipur MLAs, including 21 BJP members, have written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting “urgent necessary action by the CBI against the guilty persons” in the deaths of two young people.

Hours after images of the two boys’ corpses went viral on social media, students from Imphal-based schools and colleges organized protest demonstrations to call for the arrest of those responsible for the atrocity.

When security personnel prevented the demonstrators from moving closer to Imphal’s chief minister’s secretariat, there was a fight between them and the police near Sanjenthong in the Imphal East district. To disperse the protesters, the police deployed batons and tear gas rounds.

“Students from schools and colleges demonstrated in Imphal over the deaths of the two boys. Security forces intervened to scatter the students as they moved near the CM’s Secretariat, a police official was cited as saying by news outlet PTI.

According to hospital authorities, more than 45 students were hurt by police activity and sent to a number of private and public hospitals in Imphal’s East and West districts.

Of them, 12 are being treated in two government hospitals, while the other 12 are being treated at a private hospital. Two more patients were enrolled at a different private hospital.

The government of Manipur quickly reinstated the five-day internet service restriction after the event.

After being banned after ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur in early May, mobile internet services were once again available as of September 23.

Additionally, the state administration said in a notice that all public and private schools will be closed on Wednesday and Friday. The state has declared Thursday a holiday in observance of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth anniversary, or Eid-e-Milad.

Following the appearance of images of the two missing students’ corpses on social media on Monday, the Manipur administration pleaded with citizens to maintain calm while allowing officials to look into the “kidnapping and killing” of the two.

The two young people were named as Hijam Linthoingambi, 17, and Phijam Hemjit, 20.

Students and security personnel have reportedly engaged in similar altercations in the Thoubal, Kakching, and Bishnupur districts.

The MLAs complained in a letter to Shah that the release of the body photographs on social media “led to widespread unrest and violence in the state today.”

A senior official was reported by the news agency as stating that security personnel have been placed on watch and further precautions have been taken to avert any incident after the images of the kids have gone viral.

The government said that it was dedicated to securing justice and that anybody found guilty of the horrific act will face heavy punishment.

The two were not known to be at their current location, according to the police, and their mobile phones were discovered to be off.

Since the beginning of May, ethnic violence has been occurring in Manipur.

Since ethnic riots started in the northeastern state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the hill areas to protest against the majority Meitei community’s quest for Scheduled Tribe designation, more than 175 people have died and hundreds have been wounded.

Tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, make up 40% of Manipur’s population and are mostly concentrated in the hill regions, whereas Meiteis make up around 53% of the state’s population and dwell primarily in the Imphal valley.