Houses of 4 more MLAs torched in Manipur, agitators attempt to storm CM's ancestral residence

PTI, IMPHAL, NOV 17, 2024 :  Irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley, even as security forces foiled the attempt of agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, officials said.

The fresh incidents of violent protests took place on Saturday night, even as an indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and three children by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday. Enraged people torched the houses of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong, Hiyanglam's BJP MLA Y. Radheshyam at Langmeidong Bazar, Wangjing Tentha's BJP MLA Paonam Brojen in Thoubal district, and Khundrakpam's Congress MLA Th. Lokeshwar in Imphal East district, the officials said.

The legislators and their family members were not at home when the angry mob stormed their residential compounds, vandalized properties, and set the houses on fire, police said, adding that the houses were partially burnt in the incidents. Fire services rushed to the spots and doused the blaze before the flames engulfed the entire houses.

On Saturday night, protesters also advanced towards Biren Singh's ancestral residence at Luwangshangbam in Imphal East but were stopped short of 100-200 metres by security forces. Security personnel, including Assam Rifles, BSF, and state forces, fired several rounds of tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters and foiled the attempt to damage Singh's house, officials said. Later, protesters burnt tyres on the main road leading to Biren Singh's residence and piled iron rods to prevent vehicular movement. Protests continued until around 11 pm in Mantripukhri area, some 3-4 km from the CM's ancestral home.

Officials told PTI that many of the protesters had come in vehicles from other constituencies and not from Heingang assembly seat, which the CM represented. On Sunday morning, the situation remained calm but tense in all five districts of Imphal Valley, where an indefinite curfew had been imposed and internet services suspended following violent protests after the discovery of the bodies of six persons, three women and three children, allegedly abducted and killed by militants in Jiribam.

Piles of burnt debris remained on the roads of state capital Imphal, a day after the violent protests. Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators that were attacked on Saturday, as well as at all major roads leading to the Secretariat, state BJP headquarters, and Raj Bhavan.

On Saturday, agitators ransacked the houses of three legislators, including that of Biren Singh's son-in-law R.K. Imo, who is also a BJP MLA, and set their properties on fire while security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse protesters in different parts of Imphal, police said. Among the ministers whose residences were stormed by the protesters are Sapam Ranjan, L. Susindro Singh, and Y. Khemchand, an official said. Curfew was imposed for an indefinite period in Imphal East and West, Bishnupur, Thoubal, and Kakching districts of Imphal Valley "due to the developing law and order situation," he said.

The state administration suspended internet services temporarily in seven districts in the wake of protesters storming the residences of state ministers and MLAs, another official said. Besides Imo, agitators also vandalized the properties of BJP legislator Sapam Kunjakesore and MLA Joykishan Singh. They also gheraoed the houses of JD(U) MLA of Wangkhei seat, T. Arun, and BJP legislator Karam Shyam of Langthabal. Protesters, who had come to meet Keishamthong's Independent legislator Sapam Nishikanta Singh at his residence on Tiddim Road in Imphal West, targeted the office building of a local newspaper owned by him after they were informed that the legislator was not present in the state. The mob destroyed some temporary structures in front of the office building, another official said.

Agitators also set tyres on fire in the middle of a road in Thangmeiband area, just 200 metres away from the assembly building. At Keisampat Bridge, tear gas shells were fired to disperse protesters who were attempting to march towards several buildings, including Raj Bhavan and the Secretariat, police said.

Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi ordered a temporary suspension of internet and mobile data services in the "territorial jurisdiction of currently affected districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Kakching, Kangpokpi, and Churachandpur for two days, with effect from 5:15 pm on Saturday."

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body representing civil society organizations of Imphal Valley, demanded military action on militants within 24 hours. At night, miscreants set fire to at least two churches and three houses in Jiribam town, officials said. "There have been reports of further arson and the burning of additional structures by miscreants, but these claims have not yet been independently verified," officials told PTI.

The bodies of the 10 Kuki-Zo youths killed in a gunfight with security personnel in Jiribam were on Saturday airlifted to Churachandpur from Assam's Silchar town, where the autopsies were conducted.