PTI file photo
IMPHAL: A Meitei man visiting his Kuki fiancee in Manipur’s hill district of Churachandpur was abducted and shot dead on camera Wednesday evening, a killing that jolted the state with graphic footage, street protests and an order for an NIA probe.M Rishikanta, 31, was allegedly dragged away by armed miscreants from his fiancee’s home at Tuibong village in Churachandpur district southwest of Imphal around 6.30pm. Police said his body was found hours later near Natjang village in the same district. A case has been registered and search operations launched.Rishikanta worked as a technical engineer in Nepal, family members said. He had arrived before Christmas and had been staying in Churachandpur since Dec 19. The couple had sought permission from Kuki National Organisation, an umbrella group of Kuki insurgent outfits, for his stay. KNO denied knowledge of the visit and any role in the killing.A video circulated widely on social media showed his final moments, with the gunmen shooting him twice despite his pleas. The clip carried a message reading: “No Peace, No Popular Government.”An autopsy was conducted Thursday in Churachandpur. Family members identified the body over a video call, unable to travel to the hill district amid security concerns. Kakching police facilitated the process, and the body was to be handed over later in the day.Manipur has remained deeply fractured since ethnic violence erupted in May 2023 between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo tribal communities, leaving communities effectively sealed off from one another. Even now, civilians rarely cross into areas identified with rival groups. Periodic flare-ups such as the one in Churachandpur keep the state on edge.Protests erupted Thursday at Kakching Khunou, Rishikanta’s native village in Kakching district, where residents blocked an arterial road. To douse tensions, Governor AK Bhalla told a delegation of a Joint Action Committee led by Lok Sabha MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam that the case would be handed to NIA for a “thorough and impartial” inquiry, according to an official release.The governor further said that intensive combing operations were under way “on a war footing”, with coordinated deployment of state and central forces to track those responsible. JAC urged steps to prevent similar killings, called for intensified action against armed Kuki militants in the hills, and sought disciplinary action against Churachandpur’s police chief and central forces deployed there, alleging failure to take preventive measures.
