NEW DELHI: The CBI has filed two separate charge sheets against five accused for "kidnapping with an intention to kill" and other offences in the case of two missing Manipuri students who were feared murdered during ethnic violence in the state, officials said Tuesday.
Photos purportedly showing their bodies surfaced on September 25, 2023, leading to violent protests, mainly by students.
The CBI, however, is yet to find the bodies.
The agency filed the charge sheets under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 204 (destruction of evidence) and 364 (kidnapping with an intention to kill) in the interconnected cases before a designated special court in Kamrup.
The central probe agency has kept the probe into the alleged murder open as the search for bodies continues.
Giving a sequence of events before they went missing, the agency said on July 6, 2023, the boy went to the tuition class of the girl and, after picking her up on his bike, proceeded towards Bishnupur side.
From there, he went to Thas View Point Area on old Cachar Road.
They were intercepted by a group of people and held captive by the five charge-sheeted accused who forcibly put them in a vehicle and took them to an undisclosed location where they were "suspectedly killed", the CBI Spokesperson alleged.
Among the five charge-sheeted accused, Paolunmang was arrested from Pune, Paominlun Haokip, Smalsawm Haokip and Lhingneichong Baitekuki were nabbed from the Henglep area of Churachandpur district and Nohgin Baitekuki remains on the run.
The parents of the missing teenagers had filed FIRs with the Imphal Police and Lamphel Police on July 8 and July 19, respectively.
The father of the girl had alleged that his daughter may have been kidnapped with the intention of getting married, while the boy's father had apprehended the kidnapping of his son.
"The CBI has filed charge sheets in both cases against the five accused.
Further investigation is continuing," the Spokesperson said.
More than 180 people lost their lives, and several hundred were injured in ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley.
Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute a little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.