Manipur: Meitei body condemns death of villagers in hill district

The Meitei Alliance has strongly condemned the recent death of four villagers in Manipur's Churachandpur district. 

In a fresh press release, the Meitei Alliance condemned the death of the four villagers in Churachandpur district while calling it an act of murder. 

What is surprising is the organisation has claimed that the victims were being tracked using state of the art drones, which they said points to these murders being premeditated and carried out in cold blood.

Noteworthy is that three persons, who went missing while collecting firewood in a forest, were found dead in Manipur's Churachandpur district on January 11, police said. 

Four people from Akasoi in Bishnupur district went missing on Wednesday afternoon when they had gone to the nearby hills in Churachandpur to collect firewood. The bodies of Ibomcha Singh, 51, and his son Anand Singh, 20, and 38-year-old Romen Singh were found near Haotak Phailen.

Meanwhile, the body of Ahanthem Dara (56) has still not been recovered and a search operation is underway.

In the same press release, the Meitei body also alleged that on January 10, the same day the four persons went missing, there has been an incident of contamination of river/stream water flowing down into Imphal valley from the hilly area in Saitu Assemply constituency. 

The organisation further stated that a first information report (FIR) has also been filed against unknown people. It was also stated that the needle of suspicion currently points to the armed miscreants active in this area. 

"News reports point to a defunct heavy-oil power station in Manipur's Leimakhong area to be the source of the contamination that was released into the stream. Here, it must be pointed out that rivers and lakes of Manipur, including the famous Ramsar wetland - Loktak lake, depend on such streams as the source of water," said the press release. 

The oil spill incident emanating from the Fuel Power Station at Leimakhong resulted in oil contaminating streams in the Imphal Valley, prompted swift action from the state government. The Governor of Manipur ordered the formation of a three-member committee to delve into the circumstances surrounding the leakage.