Manipur ambush: Prime accused held, cache of arms and ammunition recovered

Imphal, Sep 24 (IANS) The prime accused of the September 19 ambush, in which two Assam Rifles personnel were killed and five others injured by an armed group in Manipur's Bishnupur district, was arrested on Wednesday, officials said.

A senior police official said that on receipt of specific information about the presence of armed militants in the Kameng area in Imphal West district, a team of the district police, Assam Rifles, and other security forces launched a special operation early on Wednesday and apprehended Khomdram Ojit Singh alias Keilal, 47.

At the spot interrogation, he admitted that he is a bailed-out member of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and stated that he still continues to work for the outlawed outfit.

Khomdram also revealed that he was arrested earlier on April 22, 2007.

During further questioning, it was revealed that he was directly involved in the ambush of the Assam Rifles personnel at Sabal Leikai Nambol areas in Bishnupur on September 19.

After firing at the para-military personnel, he, along with other persons, fled towards the Loktak lake and hid their arms and ammunition at a secret location.

On his revelation, a large cache of arms and ammunition, used in the ambush, was recovered. The recovered arms include an A-4 rifle along with four magazines, an HK rifle along with two magazines, two AK series rifles, along with five magazines, an INSAS rifle, along with three magazines, three lathode shells, 170 rounds of AK rifle ammunition, 216 rounds of M-16 ammunition, and 67 rounds of INSAS ammunition.

A mobile handset, a wallet, and an Aadhaar card were also recovered from the area, the police official said.

He said that the examination of the arrested person is continuing, and certain leads have been established.

Raids are being carried out to apprehend other culprits involved in the ambush, the official said.

Defence spokesman Lt Col Amit Shukla earlier said that an Assam Rifles team was returning from flood relief operations in the Imphal Valley when their convoy was ambushed by an unidentified insurgent force along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway-2 in Bishnupur on September 19, and Naib-Subedar Shyam Gurung, 59, and Rifleman Ranjit Singh Kashyap, 36, were killed. Gurung hailed from Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district, while Kashyap was a resident of Chhattisgarh's Bastar district.

--IANS

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