Clarion India
IMPHAL — Police have arrested the fifth accused in connection with the video that surfaced on July 19 showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in strife-torn Manipur, police said.
The inhuman incident of parading of two disrobed women in Kangpokpi district of Manipur happened on May 4.
Police said that the fifth accused was arrested from Thoubal district on Saturday.
A local court in Manipur’s Thoubal district on Friday sent the four accused to police custody for 11 days to facilitate the police investigation of the horrendous crime, which shook the entire nation.
Officials in Imphal said that on the plea of the investigation officer of the case, the judicial magistrate first class in Thoubal sent the four to police custody till July 31.
The accused were produced before the court through video conferencing.
Meanwhile, an irate mob on Friday set ablaze the house of absconding suspect L. Kabichandra, 20, at Wangjing area in Thoubal.
Kabichandra, who has gone into hiding since Thursday, is among the mob seen in the video of the shocking incident that went viral in social media on July 19.
Angry women also burnt down the house of the main accused Huirem Herodas Singh (Meitei) at Yairipok village in Thoubal district late on Thursday evening.
According to police, he was seen prominently directing the mob at B. Phainom village of Kangpokpi district in the video.
One of the women seen in the video is the wife of an ex-army man who had served in the Indian Army as a Subedar of the Assam Regiment and even fought in the Kargil War.
More than 160 people have lost their lives, and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who also holds the home portfolio, told the media that interrogation of the arrested is being conducted by senior police officials and at this juncture, he would not be able to disclose the details. — (With agency inputs)
