Imphal: Five people, including four police personnel of Manipur, were arrested on Wednesday for their involvement in the recent arm-snatching incident that occurred at Sekmai Leikinthabi in West Imphal district. The act, which occurred on Tuesday night, required armed hoodlums to gain access to the farmhouse belonging to Joykishan Singh, who is a BJP MLA. The intruders are said to have disarmed three Village Defence Force (VDF) personnel who were guarding the farmhouse and decamped with three self-loading rifles (SLRs), and four magazines containing 80 live rounds of bullets.
The accused persons, later identified as Meisnam Krishnadas (57), Maibam Shanjit Singh (34), Longjam Jayenta Singh (52), Oinam Banti Singh (30), Mainam Bomcha (45), caretaker at the permanent resident at the farmhouse have been nabbed within a few hours of the FIR being registered. The police also acknowledged it through an official post on social media platform X, Twitter, which said, “On the 27. 08. 2024 unknown armed anti-socials relieved three rifles and four magazines containing 80 rounds of pellets from the police personnel posted at Leikinthabi. Regarding the incident on 28. 08. 2024 Manipur police arrest four police personnel and one person in connection with the case.”
Following the arrest, the suspects were charged before a magistrate and held in police custody for 10 days for more interrogation. The case has been registered under Sekmai police station and the case is under process.
Following the incident, Manipur Police on Wednesday launched a major operation at Sekta Awang Leikai, from which a huge quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered. The seized items were three INSAS rifles with magazines, one S. Calibre rifle with a magazine, one INSAS LMG rifle with a magazine, two AK-56 rifles with magazines, 130 live rounds of ammunition, two mobile phones, and nine other things, which included military fatigues.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!