3 Paramilitary Personnel Allegedly Set Shop On Fire In Violence-Hit Manipur, Detained

Three Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel deployed in violence-hit Manipur have been detained by the state police for allegedly setting a meat shop on fire in state capital Imphal.

The three men allegedly set the meat shop on fire on Thursday night, following which locals rushed out and doused it.

The incident was seen as serious by the state authorities amid the continuing ethnic violence between the Meiteis, who live in and around Imphal valley, and the Kuki tribe, who are settled in the hills, over the Meiteis' demand to be included under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

The RAF has suspended the three personnel. In the suspension order, a copy of which is with NDTV, the RAF told the three personnel to stay in the battalion's headquarters in Manipur till the investigation into the incident is complete.

Sources in Imphal's Porompat police station said the three RAF personnel denied they set the meat shop on fire intentionally. They said they were burning mosquito coils and the fire accidentally spread, sources said, adding their statement is being recorded.

The three RAF personnel named in the suspension order are Somdev Arya, Kuldeep Singh and Pradeep Kumar.

No first information report, or FIR, has been filed yet.

Thursday night's incident happened near the same neighbourhood where violence broke out last week over space-sharing between communities. Three men, including a former MLA, were arrested following last week's incident.

Manipur is nowhere near to seeing normalcy as the security forces continue to fight armed groups and carry out combing operations.

Army chief General Manoj Pande also went to the state today to review the security situation.

Home Minister Amit Shah, who will visit Manipur on Monday, has asked both the Meiteis and the Kukis to maintain peace.

Reports of sporadic gunfights between the security forces and armed groups, and attacks at villages in Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts have come.

The violence was sparked by anger among the Kuki tribe at the prospect of the Meiteis being given guaranteed quotas of government jobs and other perks in a form of affirmative action.

This also stoked long-held fears among the Kukis that the Meiteis may be allowed to acquire land in areas currently reserved for them and other tribals.

Over 70 people have died since May 3 in the clashes. Manipur has been without internet for over 24 days.

The Kukis have alleged the BJP government in Manipur led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh has been targeting them systematically - using the war on drugs campaign as the cover - to remove them from the forests and their homes in the hills. The scale of poppy cultivation in Manipur, however, has spread across 15,400 acres of land in the hills between 2017 and 2023, according to data from the state's special anti-drugs unit Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB).

The Meiteis - who cannot buy land in the hills while the tribals, who live in the hills, are allowed to own land in the valley - are worried their place in the valley will shrink over time.