One Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel sustained a bullet injury during a gunfight between security forces and unidentified armed individuals in the Taphou area of Manipur ’s Senapati district on Monday, officials said.
Protestors were seen blocking the highway with burning tyres and debris. The village authority urged the district administration and police to take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the incident, identify those responsible and ensure that justice is delivered in accordance with the law. Following the incident, locals from the area blocked National Highway 2 (Imphal-Dimapur) at Senapati headquarters, according to a video clip circulating on social media.
The Taphou Kuki Village Authority condemned the burning of a Kuki house and described the incident as “highly deplorable, inhuman and unacceptable”.
The gunfight broke out after two houses belonging to separate communities were set ablaze by an unidentified group of people, triggering tension in the area. One of the two houses belonged to a Kuki family while the other belonged to the Poumai community (a sub-community of the Naga community).
The case has been under investigation by National Investigating Agency (NIA) and as a part of the investigation four individuals including a couple have been arrested in the month of July on two separate occasions.
