IMPHAL, June 28: The mystery behind the killing of three Manipuri militants at Dimapur in an alleged ‘fake encounter’ in March 2010 remained unresolved despite assurances by the new chief of army staff General Bikram Singh that “nothing will be brushed under the carpet.”
The incident came to the limelight when an army officer posted at 3 Corps, Rangapahar in Dimapur of Nagaland, wrote a letter to the Eastern Army Command at Kolkata on January 12 this year.
Major T Ravi Kumar in his complaint wrote that three militants were shot dead behind the Officers’ mess at Rangapahar by the personnel of 3 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit.
In his letter addressed to the army’s Eastern Command, the major has alleged cold-blooded triple murder by the unit.
The complaint said that three people were picked up by the unit after an operation in Dimapur. It suggests that the rebels were brought to the unit`s officers` mess and killed, according to media reports in New Delhi.
The letter also says about the recovery of three decomposed, unidentified bodies from the Assam-Nagaland border near Dimapur.
Major Kumar said in his letter that the incident occurred between March 15 and 19, 2010, and demanded an investigation.
When General Bikram Singh took over as the new army chief from General VK Singh on May 31 this year, he told reporters that the compliant by the major will be investigated and “nothing will be swept under the carpet.”
However till today, there has been no investigation into the ‘cold blooded murder’.
The investigation by IFP revealed that the three militants were Phijam Naobi alias Chingkhu (45) of Thangmeiband, Gojen alias R K Ronel (35) of Sagolband Sayang Pukhri Mapal, and Th Prem alias Romen of Langol Laimanai.
The PLA has clarified that both Chingkhu and Gojen had been expelled from the outfit in February 2007 and they were no longer related with the organization.
The mystery however remains that why the two rebels expelled from PLA were not used for extracting vital information and instead eliminated the same night (March 18, 2010) they were captured alive.
Sources said that Chingkhu and Gojen had arrived at the rented house of Prem in Dimapur on March 18, 2010 and they came there for staying just for one night when a team of army personnel took three of them away to an undisclosed location.
A source said that Prem belongs to another Manipur based rebel outfit, and was involved in the collection of extortion money from businessmen. Whether Prem was in possession of cash that night could not be independently confirmed.
The bodies of three rebels were recovered from Kaligaon village in Karbi Anglong district of Assam bordering Nagaland.