The accused, identified as Nokjaging Baite Kuki, alias Tiger (38), was apprehended on May 22 from Ngathal village in Churachandpur.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Assam Rifles have apprehended a key member of the United Kuki National Army (UKNA), an insurgent group active in Manipur’s Churachandpur, who is wanted for the alleged abduction and murder of two Meitei students in July 2023, a senior government official said.
Photos of the bodies of the two students surfaced on social media two months after their deaths in September 2023, leading to massive protests leaving scores of people, mostly students, injured.
Also read: CBI arrests key accused in Manipur students’ murder case
The accused, identified as Nokjaging Baite Kuki, alias Tiger (38), was apprehended on May 22 from Ngathal village in Churachandpur and has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the agency probing the killing of the two students.
A CBI court in Guwahati issued a non-bailable warrant against the accused on June 26, 2024, subsequently declaring him a proclaimed offender. While the CBI arrested four Kuki-Zo people for the alleged crime on October 1, 2023, the agency accused Nokjaging Baite Kuki of criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, causing disappearance of evidence, harbouring offenders, and abduction.
The accused is wanted for other major crimes in the ethnic-violence-hit State, and has managed to evade arrest for the past three years, the official said.
“An AK rifle, pistols and grenades were found in his possession. He was under the influence of alcohol when apprehended and could barely move. While others with him managed to flee, he was caught. He had earlier given a slip to security forces on several occasions,” the official said.
The accused operated in coordination with self-styled Lt Jamkhogin Guite alias Pepsi, who was apprehended by the Assam Rifles on October 1, 2025, the official added. His involvement is found in multiple violent incidents in Manipur, including an attack on then Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s convoy in Jiribam on June 10, 2024; the killing of three Meitei woodcutters at Haotak Khollen in Churachandpur; another killing in the Songdo area; the blowing up of an electric tower in Kangpokpi in 2023; and an attack on a petrol tanker in Jiribam in 2024.
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The UKNA, an insurgent group, has been active in the Henglep subdivision, south-west of the Churachandpur district, since 2015. The accused joined the UKNA in 2021, after deserting another insurgent group, which is in a ‘Suspension of Operations’ pact or peace deal with the government.
More than 260 people have been killed since ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023.
Published – May 24, 2026 08:46 pm IST
