IMPHAL: The Supreme Court on Monday said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Special Investigative Team (SIT) did not peruse Manipur fake encounters case seriously.
The court also expressed displeasure over the low number of FIRs registered in the regard.
Underlining that only 11 FIRs were registered in the case in last six months, the apex court asked CBI DIG in-charge of helming probe to be present in the court during the next hearing.
The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe by a special investigating team SIT into the fake encounter killings in Manipur in the last decade.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Uday Lalit passed this order on a writ petition filed by the Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) alleging 1528 fake encounter deaths in Manipur in the last decade and demanding a probe by a special investigation team.
It also then ordered the Director of the CBI to nominate a group of five officers to lodge necessary FIRs and to complete the investigations by December 31, 2017 and prepare charge sheets, wherever necessary.
CNN News18 reported that dreaded encounter specialist and head constable Herojit Singh today told the Supreme Court that he was “witness to a large number of fake encounters in Manipur between 2003 and 2009”.
Herojit was quoted as saying by CNN News18 in his affidavit, that all the killings were carried out on the direct orders of his superiors.
Manipur recorded the maximum number of fake encounters in 2008-09, shows NHRC data.