Manipur: Army jawan on leave killed after being abducted from home

 Sepoy Serto Thangthang Kom, 41, was abducted at gunpoint around 10am from his home at Neikailong in Imphal West district on Saturday

Umanand Jaiswal, TT, Guwahati, 18.09.23 : An army jawan on leave was killed after being abducted from his home at gunpoint by three unidentified people in strife-torn Manipur, a defence ministry spokesperson said on Sunday evening.

Sepoy Serto Thangthang Kom, 41, was abducted at gunpoint around 10am from his home at Neikailong in Imphal West district on Saturday, the Kohima-based defence spokesperson, Amit Shukla, said in a media release.

The sepoy, deployed at Leimakhong Military Station in Manipur, was on leave.

The Kom community is one of the minority tribes in the state. A Kom Union Manipur representative told a section of the media that the community was not siding with anyone in the ongoing unrest that has mostly pitted Kukis and Meiteis against each other.

The defence spokesperson said: “According to the statement of his 10-year-old son, who is the only eyewitness to the crime, three miscreants entered the home while father and son were working on the porch and placed a pistol on his father’s head and forced him into a white-coloured vehicle and drove away with him.”

The body of the sepoy, killed with a single bullet to his head, was found around 9.30am on Sunday at Khuningthek in the adjoining Imphal East district. The site is around 20km from his residence.

Shukla told The Telegraph that the sepoy was on leave from September 3 for 15 days. “ He was scheduled to join today (Sunday),” he said.

“The army strongly condemns the killing of Sep. Serto Thangthang Kom and stands by his family in these difficult times. His last rites shall be conducted as per the wishes of the family. The army has rushed a team to assist the bereaved family in every manner possible,” Shukla said.