NIA Arrests 2nd Suspect In Killing Of 6 Meiteis Including 3 Children In Manipur's Jiribam

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made a second consecutive arrest in the case of killing of three Meitei women and three children in Manipur's Jiribam district in November 2024.

The NIA arrested Lalrosang Hmar alias Rosang from Mizoram's capital Aizawl on Thursday, the NIA said. He is a resident of Assam's Cachar district, neighbouring Jiribam.

The first accused, Thanglienlal Hmar, was also arrested yesterday from Aizawl by a joint NIA-Assam Police team.

Lalrosang was an active conspirator in the crime; the NIA recovered a mobile phone and a SIM card from him, which will be examined, the NIA said.

The arrest comes three weeks after the Manipur High Court ordered the NIA to give a report on the case, and three days after it ordered the NIA to file a chargesheet within a month.

The members of the Meitei community who were kidnapped from Jiribam, a district bordering Assam, and whose mutilated bodies were found floating in a river days later, were Yumrembam Rani Devi (60), Telem Thoibi Devi (31) and her daughter Telem Thajamanbi Devi (8), Laishram Heithoibi Devi (25) and her two children Laishram Chingkheinganba Singh (2.5 years old) and Laishram Lamnganba Singh (10 months old).

At that time, the Manipur cabinet in a resolution had called the suspects "Kuki militants".

The arrested suspect, however, belongs to the Hmar tribe, a distinct tribe and not part of the Kuki nomenclature. The Kukis in Manipur along with the Zomi and Hmar tribes have been rallying behind the banner of "Kuki-Zo" since ethnic violence with the Meiteis began in May 2023.

The women and children were kidnapped from Jiribam's Bokobera neighbourhood while another group of militants were engaged in a gunfight with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Ten of the militants were shot dead in the encounter.