GUWAHATI: The post-mortem examinations of two Nagas, killed by alleged Kuki rebels in Manipur on October 10, were conducted on Thursday after security forces recovered the decapitated head of one of them.
Ajinbou Ringkangmai and Dibambou Ringkangmai were among four Nagas killed by the rebels in two separate attacks in Kangpokpi district. Ajinbou was beheaded, while Dibambou’s face was allegedly crushed with stones.
After their killings, the Working Committee of the Joint Tribes Council-Manipur (WC-JTC) had issued a 48-hour deadline to the central and Manipur governments to locate and recover Ajinbou’s missing head and hand it over to the family for a dignified burial.
The Liangmai Students’ Union said the severed head was recovered by central forces from Kangpokpi district at around 1:30 am on Thursday, shortly before the expiry of the WC-JTC deadline. The government later informed Naga leaders about the recovery.
Mathiuchunbou Rimai, president of this Naga student body, told this newspaper that the autopsy had started around 11 am. He said the funerals of Ajinbou and Dibambou would be held on Friday in their native village. The funerals of the other two persons—Machungamang Daimai and Ramningpou Gangmei—had already been conducted by their families.
Despite the recovery of the missing head, the WC-JTC continued its agitation, with Rimai saying that the council’s second demand remained unaddressed.
“The agitation will continue till the arrest of Thangboi Kipgen, David Hangsing and Sailen Haokip,” he said.
Naga organisations had held the trio responsible for the killings of the four individuals. The three are leaders of Kuki rebel groups that signed the Suspension of Operations agreement with the central government.
Apart from the killing of the four Nagas in Kangpokpi, five others—two Nagas, two Kukis and a Gorkha community member—were killed on October 10 and 11 in separate attacks carried out in the Naga-majority districts of Kamjong and Ukhrul.
Meanwhile, there were reports that a Kuki woman was allegedly killed near the India-Myanmar border in Kamjong on Thursday. Further details were not available.
