The Special Investigation Team of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday submitted its fourth chargesheet against two Manipur police officers in connection with an alleged fake encounter they carried out in 2011.
Inspector Sagopam Ibotombi and Rifleman Ajay Prakash have been charged with murder and under the Arms Act for killing a suspected militant, in gunfight that lasted for around eight minutes on June 28, 2011, Northeast Now reported. The police team had recovered one pistol with nine rounds of ammunition and two Chinese hand grenades from the deceased, but the SIT said there was no evidence that he had used the weapons.
The SIT also used a forensic report to assert that the cause of death was hemorrhages and stock resulting from multiple firearm injuries to the body. It described the injuries as homicidal in nature.
The Supreme Court had formed the SIT in July 2017 after a public interest litigation sought to investigate 1,528 cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur.
On July 30, the CBI told the top court that it has filed two chargesheets in connection with the alleged fake encounters by the Indian Army, Assam Rifles and the police in Manipur. However, the Supreme Court rebuked the CBI, asking the agency why the 14 accused personnel were “loafing around Manipur freely”.
On August 3, the CBI booked Indian Army Major Vijay Singh Balhara in connection with the killing of a 12-year-old boy in Manipur’s Imphal West in 2009. A third chargesheet was filed on August 20.
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