New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed its chargesheet in a case related to the unrelenting violence in the sensitive, border state of Manipur.
Its findings point to a connection between arms looted in raids on police armouries and those recovered from individuals said to have a hand in organising the violence.
The chargesheet also refers to “weapons training camps” organised by cadres of a proscribed Meitei insurgent group.
It says that all these acts were done “with the intention to carry out violent terror acts against the rival Kuki Zo community members.”
Violence in Manipur, which ignited on May 3, 2023 is yet to be brought under control and so far has claimed 224 lives, displaced over 60,000 people and destroyed hundreds of properties.
A viral video of a mob attacking and parading women after disrobing them became a subject of major national concern.
Eight months after the arrest of Moirangthem Anand Singh, identified by the NIA as cadre of the proscribed Meitei insurgent group, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – not to be confused by the Chinese armed forces that go by the same name – the central agency has stated in a special court in New Delhi that Singh took part in a “weapons training camp” organised by PLA cadres Oken Singh and Yaiphapa at an ecological park in Imphal during the period of violence in Manipur
It said that “80-90 youths were trained” in this camp “to handle firearms”.
‘Looted’ arms and violence
The NIA, which filed this chargesheet today, has also claimed that a forensic study found a link between arms recovered from the accused by the Manipur police last September, to arms looted from the police stations of the valley areas during the violence.
“During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that three out of the 4 arms seized from the accused were looted from various government sources…”, reads the NIA chargesheet.
It identified the arms from the armoury of the 7th Manipur Rifles Battalion (one INSAS rifle), 2nd India Reserve battalion (one SLR Rifle) and Manipur Police Training Centre (.303 Rifles).
“The investigation is in process to back trace the remaining one .303 rifle bearing serial no. D91642 along with ammunition,” it also said.
The Wire has reported that as per Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh’s statement issued in the first week of April, police had recovered only 1,757 arms and 22,707 rounds of ammunition from the approximately 5,600 arms and 6.5 lakh rounds looted from the Manipur police armoury during the initial days of the violence.
Sources say that the NIA case, registered suo-moto in New Delhi in July 2023, was hinged on “credible inputs” received by the Union government about an alleged “transnational conspiracy” by the Myanmar-based leadership of terror outfits active in northeast India to indulge in terrorist activities by taking advantage of the ethnic strife.
Background: M. Anand Singh’s arrest
On September 16, 2023, Moirangthem Anand Singh (45), along with four others – Athiokpam Kajit Singh, Keisham Johnson, Loukrakpam Michael Mangangcha and Konthoujam Meghajit Meitei – were arrested by the Manipur police in the Imphal East district after they were found travelling in a vehicle impersonating uniformed policemen.
Sophisticated arms were found when they were frisked and when their vehicle was examined.
Security forces say those arms were looted from the armouries of several police stations in the valley.
All the five individuals belong to the Meitei community.
Their arrest led to massive street protests, in spite of a curfew, led by the Meitei women’s group the Meira Paibi.
Mobs tried storming into various police stations demanding their immediate release. The women termed those arrested as ‘village volunteers’ who were protecting Meitei villagers from ‘Kuki militants’.
Seemingly coming under public pressure, a local court in the Imphal West district released them on conditional bail.
However, M. Anand Singh was immediately picked up by the NIA in the “transnational conspiracy” case and flown to New Delhi. He was formally arrested on September 22 in Delhi.
The NIA went on to identify him as a cadre of the PLA and it transpired that he had been arrested six times in the past. It continuously opposed his bail at the special court.
Meanwhile, last October, the Manipur unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to ward off public pressure, had also written a letter to party president J.P. Nadda, seeking his help to get M. Anand Singh released, stating that in the poll-bound Manipur, public anger and protest “is now slowing turning the tide, putting the sole onus of the prolonged disturbances solely into the failure of the government in dealing with the situation.”
In end-October, the NIA court in Manipur transferred all the documents in the case to the special NIA court in New Delhi.
The agency continued to work on “credible inputs” that the
“China-Myanmar module of NSCN/IM (Naga insurgent group) based in Myanmar under the leadership of Hangshi Tangkhul and Absilom Tangkhul have decided to extend support to proscribed terrorist organisations, Kanglei Yaol Kamba Lup (KYKL) under the leadership of N Owen, the chairman of the, KYKL, and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) under the leadership of M M Ngouba, the acting president and chief of staff, PLA, to infiltrate their cadres into the Indian territory for carrying out terrorist attacks in India.”
Also read: Ten Things That Emerged Out of a Year of Violence in Manipur
The agency further worked to probe the allegation that the NSCN/IM’s Myanmar leadership had “promised a safe passage” to the PLA and KYKL “along with arms, ammunition, explosives and other terrorist hardware, to Manipur based terrorist outfits and proscribed organisations”.
As per the chargesheet, the agency believed that these outfits were “tasked” to “identify”, “recruit” and “train impressionable youths and get them involved in the ongoing violence with the larger goal of destabilising the security situation in Manipur and to further wage a war against the government of India”.
After completing its investigation, the NIA chargesheet has claimed that the accused Anand Singh, “a trained cadre” of the PLA, not only attended a camp in July 2023 in Imphal and took part in training others, but also “mobilised local youth” for arms training to “escalate the ethnic conflict in the state”.
Citing statements of state police commandos who had carried out their initial arrest on September 16, the NIA chargesheet said it established that they “intended to aid and support cadres of other underground outfits violating prohibitory orders in force”.
“It is further established from the statements of witnesses that the accused persons, while in unauthorised possession of lethal prohibited arms, were contravening the lawful orders, acting in furtherance of the larger conspiracy, providing support to cadres other proscribed terrorist organisations with the intention to carry out violent terror acts against the rival Kuki Zo community members.”
In another case, the NIA has also arrested one Seiminlun Gangte, belonging to the Kuki community, as a key accused in an SUV blast case in the Kwakta area of Bishnupur district on June 21, 2023, where three people were injured.
He too was brought to New Delhi.
In a polarised and charged atmosphere, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Front, which has been representing the Kuki community during the ethnic strife, also accused the NIA of ‘high-handedness”.
The agency has denied all allegations.
As per the chief minister’s statement in the last assembly session, the NIA is handling 13 cases related to Manipur’s recent ethnic conflict.
