IMPHAL, June 18: Hardly a fortnight after peace signatory outfit United Revolutionary Front was engulfed in an imbroglio over the recovery of the bodies of two of its own cadres buried inside its camp, two cadres of the outfit were caught trying to sneak away steel parts of the abandoned Spinning Mill this morning.
The two caught cadres have been identified as Sinam Suresh, 31, son of (L) Rabei of Chingmeirong Maning Leikai and Akham Pratap, 33, son of (L) Noren of Singjamei Thongam Leikai.
Angered by the repeated transgression, locals erupted and demanded proper fencing around the camp and to shift away the outfit immediately.
However, after negotiations with the deputy Chief Minister on the demands failed to bring any amicable solution, a mob stormed the designated camp dismantling the wall of the camp.
According to sources, the two were caught around 8.30am today while trying to smuggle out the steel parts through a hole on the northern side wall of the designated camp.
Soon after the incident, a team of police arrived at the spot and tried to take away the two, but the locals refused to hand them over.
After that, the locals called an emergency meeting at Loitang Khonou Spinning Mill and passed a resolution to hand over the two URF cadres to the police and to submit a memorandum to the State Chief Minister highlighting the series of crimes committed by the URF cadres in an around the area.
Moreover, the locals drew the attention of the government to take up proper fencing work to prevent similar incident in the future.
Later the two were handed over to the police at around 3 pm.
Sources informed that around 10 individuals representing the locals of Loitang Khonou and its surrounding areas met with the Home minister at his official residence at Babupara demanding immediate removal of the designated camp from Loitang Khonou Spinning Mill besides mending the fencing.
Although the deputy Chief Minister agreed to the demand of mending the fence, no understanding on the removal of the camp could be brought.
Aggrieved over the outcome, the residents reportedly dismantled the wall about 40 feet on the southern side and burned down the sentry post of the designated camp.
Responding to the mob, police resorted to firing tear gas shells and mock bombs to disperse the crowd till the filing of this report.
Following the incident a large number of Imphal west district police commando rushed to the spot.
It may be mentioned that the partly decomposed bodies of the two cadres, who had gone missing since March 18-19 were dug out from under the store room of the outfit’s Loitang Khunou Spinning Mill designated camp, on May 28