Hand Grenade With Note Found At College Gate In Imphal, Near Raj Bhavan

A hand grenade was found today at the gate of a college, less than 200 metres away from the Governor's official residence in the heart of Manipur's capital Imphal.

The police said some people saw the grenade at the gate of Ghanapriya Women's College at 6 am, following which a police team went to the spot to check. A bomb-disposal team came and defused the grenade, whose pin resembled a booby trap, sources said.

The grenade was placed on a note where it was written, "Down with fascist education system, honour the rights of proletarian students' free education movement, glory to the proletarian students."

A case has been filed with Imphal police station. No group has claimed responsibility yet.

Sources said they suspect the hand grenade may have been an extortion threat to the management of GP College.

Extortion Menace

There has been numerous extortion threats by groups of armed people in recent times in Manipur, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and the district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, sources said, adding these groups are taking advantage of the Manipur crisis that have kept the police and the security forces occupied on maintaining peace.

Many shop owners in Imphal have complained of being forced to pay up by armed people, despite failing businesses due to no economic activity for over a year since violence began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in the hill areas of southern Manipur bordering Myanmar and some areas in the north.

"If you ask anyone in Imphal, they will say the same thing - extortion and thefts have increased. All businesses are dead. Where will money come from? People are stealing cooking gas cylinders, water pumps, anything they can get. Cooking gas costs over Rs 2,500 in the black market," an Imphal resident told NDTV, requesting anonymity.

'Requests' To Pay Up

A shopkeeper in Imphal city's Paona Bazaar told NDTV they are unable to bear the frequent 'requests' to pay up by random armed people.

"They just walk in. It's one group today, another group tomorrow. We tell them there's no money, nothing to sell. All the shelves are empty. We haven't celebrated one festival since May 2023. No goods are coming as all highways are blocked for normal traffic. Highway extortion from truck drivers make whatever reaches here unaffordable for both us and buyers," the shopkeeper said, requesting anonymity due to fear of harm. "How long are we going to bear this burden? This is a neverending nightmare."

READ | Manipur's Illegal Highway 'Tax' Takes Consumer Items Out Of People's Reach

Of the 39 terrorist organisations banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), eight are Meitei outfits from Manipur.

The only Meitei group that has agreed for talks is the United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P). This outfit - which is one of the two factions of the oldest Meitei armed group - is overground now after it signed a tripartite peace agreement with the Centre and the state government in November 2023.

The rise in extortion cases in Manipur comes after nearly a decade of relative peace and calm. Startups and entrepreneurship in Manipur had been growing fast, boosted by central and state assistance policies, until the ethnic violence put brakes on all economic activity.