Banned outfit's cadre held in Manipur

PTI, Imphal, May 8, 2024 :  A 33-year-old cadre of the banned National Revolutionary Front of Manipur was arrested from Imphal, police said on Wednesday.

Heisnam James Singh, an active member of the proscribed outfit, was involved in extortion and apprehended from the vicinity of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences here on Tuesday, a police statement said.

A two-wheeler was seized from his possession, it said.

Search operations and area domination by security forces continued in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts in ethnic strife-torn Manipur, police said.

More than 219 people were killed and thousands displaced from homes after ethnic clashes broke out on May 3 last year in Manipur, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals – Nagas and Kukis – constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.