Manipur on the boil, irate mob sets houses of four more MLAs on fire

The legislators and their family members were not at home when the angry mob stormed their residential compounds, vandalised properties

Imphal: Tension escalated in Manipur as irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators in various districts of Imphal Valley, officials said. The attack comes even as security forces foiled the attempt of agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

The fresh incidents of violent protests took place on Saturday night even as indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and children each by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three State Ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday.

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Enraged people torched the houses of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong, Hiyanglam’s BJP MLA Y Radheshyam at Langmeidong Bazar, Wangjing Tentha’s BJP MLA Paonam Brojen in Thoubal district and Khundrakpam’s Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar in Imphal East district, the officials said.

The legislators and their family members were not at home when the angry mob stormed their residential compounds, vandalised properties and set the houses on fire, police said, adding the houses were partially burnt in the incidents. Fire services rushed to the spots and doused the blaze before the flames engulfed the entire houses.

On Saturday night, protesters also advanced towards Biren Singh’s ancestral residence at Luwangshangbam in Imphal East but were stopped short of 100-200 metres by security forces. Security personnel, including Assam Rifles, BSF and state forces, fired several rounds of tear gas shells, rubber bullets to disperse the protesters and foiled the attempt to damage Singh’s house, officials said.

Later, protesters burnt tyres on the main road leading to Biren Singh’s residence and piled iron roads to prevent vehicular movement. Protests continued till around 11 pm in Mantripukhri area, some 3-4 km from the CM’s ancestral home.

Officials said that many of the protesters had come in vehicles from other constituencies, and not from Heingang assembly seat, which the CM represented. On Sunday morning, the situation remained calm but tense in all five districts of Imphal Valley, where an indefinite curfew has been imposed and internet services suspended following violent protests after the discovery of the bodies of six persons, three women and children each, allegedly abducted and killed by militants in Jiribam.

Piles of burnt debris remained on the roads of state capital Imphal, a day after the violent protests. Security forces have intensified patrolling in parts of Imphal and increased deployment at many of the residences of legislators which were attacked on Saturday as well as all major roads leading to the secretariat, state BJP headquarters and Raj Bhavan.