Manipur: protester shot dead; BJP, Congress offices torched
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Imphal: In violence-torn Manipur's Jiribam, a protester was shot dead during a clash with security forces and a mob that was allegedly vandalising properties. When police say that it was not immediately clear who opened fire, eyewitnesses claimed that the firing came from the security forces' direction. However, police confirmed the death of a person, PTI reported.
The protesters in Jiribam torched party offices of BJP and Congress. A house belonging to Jiribam's Independent MLA was ransacked by a group of agitators. They brought furniture, paper, and other things out of the properties and made bonfires out of them in front of the buildings.
The death happened on Sunday night when agitators were vandalising properties at Babupara in the Jiribam police station area to protest the killing of women and children abducted by militants. The deceased has been identified as K Athouba, who was in his twenties, he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the body of another man, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, was found near Jiribam town, and it was kept in the district hospital.
Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators as well as all major roads leading to the secretariat, state BJP headquarters and Raj Bhavan.
The National People's Party (NPP), which has seven MLAs in the 60-member Manipur Assembly, on Sunday, withdrew support from the BJP-led government, claiming that the N Biren Singh dispensation has "completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy" in the northeastern state.
The withdrawal of support, however, would not have any impact on the BJP government, as the saffron party enjoys a majority with its 32 MLAs. The saffron camp also has the support of five MLAs of the Naga People's Front (NPF) and six JD(U) legislators.
Manipur has seen a fresh wave of protests after six people went missing from a camp for displaced persons in Jiribam on Monday, following a gunfight between armed men and security forces that resulted in the deaths of 10 Kuki youths.