Imphal/New Delhi:

A 10-month-old baby who was among six family members kidnapped and killed by “Kuki militants” in Manipur’s Jiribam district on November 11 was shot in the knee, stabbed on the chest, and hit with a blunt object on the jaw, according to the postmortem report shared by the family.

Laishram Lamnganba Singh was last seen on his mother’s lap in a photograph that surfaced on a public WhatsApp channel called ‘Zogam News’, a day after all six members of the same family from the Meitei community were kidnapped from Jiribam by suspects who the Manipur government in a cabinet resolution called “Kuki militants”.

The WhatsApp channel formed in March this year and which had 12,000 subscribers has shut down, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) looking into the case now.

All the six bodies were found floating in a river in Jiribam between November 15 and 18. While the autopsies were done on all the six bodies last week, only three reports were released. The other three reports came out today.

Both eyeballs were missing, and maggots were present in the infant’s body which was found in an advanced stage of putrefaction, the autopsy report said. There were bruises all over the face and a sharp cut in the abdomen. The “chop wound” on the infant’s chest fractured the ribs, the autopsy report said.

The body of 8-year-old Telem Thajamanbi Devi was also found in an early stage of decomposition with maggots in some parts of the body. She suffered a bullet wound in her shoulder, which pierced through the heart, lung and ribs and exited, the autopsy report said.

Her mother, Telem Thoiboi Devi, 31, was shot four times in the chest, the report said. Her head had been crushed, it said. Thoiboi Devi’s body was decomposed and both eyes were dislodged from the sockets; her scalp was lacerated at many places and the skull bone was broken and pushed in, according to the autopsy report.

The postmortem reports of the infant’s mother L Heitonbi Devi, 25, his grandmother Y Rani Devi, 60 and his 3-year-old brother, which were released last week, found they were all shot dead.

The autopsy reports of two senior citizens from the Meitei community who were killed by “Kuki militants” on the same day the family was kidnapped show both died of severe burn injuries. The militants had set some houses on fire after attacking the police station in Jiribam’s Borobekra village.

The bodies of Maibam Kesho Meitei, 72, and Laishram Baren Meitei, 64, were found during a search operation hours after 10 “Kuki militants” were shot dead in an encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), police sources had said.

Intelligence sources said the public WhatsApp channel ‘Zogam News’, which first shared the photo of the kidnapped family, may have shut down; however, investigators can use legal means to order the messenger’s parent firm Meta to share the logs, which can find the details of the phone number, SIM card and its owner, and last tower location, apart from other content.

Civil society organisations of the Kuki tribes claim the 10 men killed in the encounter were “village volunteers”, an allegation the police and other authorities have refuted strongly, pointing at the weapons brought by the militants and numerous bullet holes in a police SUV.

Political leaders across party lines have condemned the killing of women and children in Manipur. Most have said the latest incident was a terror attack considering it was not a skirmish between two communities in a riot-like situation, but a calculated, premeditated kidnapping operation with an intention to kill them.

The latest round of violence in Jiribam began on November 7 when suspected Meitei insurgents attacked a village of the Hmar tribe. A woman from the Hmar tribe was killed in the attack. Her husband in a police case alleged she was shot in the leg, raped and then set on fire by the suspected Meitei militants. Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes have accused the Manipur government of keeping silent on that attack.

The Manipur cabinet in a statement on November 16 had said “Kuki miscreants” burnt several houses and attacked Borobekra police station in Jiribam district on October 19. This attack and not the November 7 attack led to a fresh cycle of violence, sources have said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today called a meeting of all MLAs to discuss the situation in the violence-hit state and the rescue of two men kidnapped by who he claimed were “Kuki militants”.

A video has been shared widely on social media where two men from the valley-dominant Meitei community were seen asking the Chief Minister to “save our lives”. The two men, in white T-shirts, also asked Mr Singh to agree to the demand of their kidnappers immediately.

NDTV could not independently verify the video.

“… Addressed the current situation in the state particularly focusing on the rescue of the abduction of two innocent youths by Kuki militants. We condemn such heinous acts and our government is working to secure the safe release of the victims,” Mr Singh said in posts on X and Facebook.

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Three men from the Meitei community had gone to participate at an army recruitment event when they were kidnapped, the parents of one of the three men who the army rescued yesterday told local media.

The security forces could not trace the other two yesterday, Manipur Police sources told NDTV. They declined to give details about the demand raised by the kidnappers, citing operational security.

The kidnappers thrashed the rescued man, identified as Ningombam Johnson Singh, police sources said, adding his cheeks had swelled, his body had multiple bruises and his hand had a wound that needed to be bandaged.

The two missing men have been identified as Oinam Thoithoi Singh and Thokchom Thoithoiba Singh. Their parents have on social media appealed to the kidnappers to release them unharmed.

Social media posts by members of the Meitei community alleged the kidnappers have demanded the release of Mark Thangmang Haokip, 39, who the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested on May 30, 2022 on charges of waging war against India and working against the nation to create an “independent Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Kukiland”, according to the First Information Report (FIR).

Police sources have not confirmed this alleged demand being widely circulated on social media.

If the demand for Mark Thangmang Haokip to be freed from the NIA, however, turns out to be true, then the kidnappers can be considered to be hardcore militants, and should not be misidentified as ‘village defence volunteers’ of the Kuki tribes in the context of the Manipur ethnic violence, sources said.

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There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.