NIA nabs militant involved in brutal killing of woman in Manipur riots from Kerala

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a militant of a banned insurgent group involved in the brutal killing of a woman and looting of houses in a village in Manipur's Jiribam district last year from Kerala, officials said on Monday.

Rajkumar Maipaksana was arrested from Kannur district of Kerala and has been sent in transit remand by the NIA special court, Kochi, for production before the Imphal NIA court, they said.

Hailing from Jiribam district, Maipaksana is associated with the banned insurgent group People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), a statement issued by the probe agency said.

The official statement said that he was among the key perpetrators of the crime, in which a woman named Zosangkim was killed and several houses were set afire and looted in Zairawn village in November 2024.

According to a PTI report, the NIA had last week arrested two other accused militants, belonging to different militant outfits, in connection with the case.

The statement said that the agency is going ahead with its investigations and is hunting for the other perpetrators of the horrendous crime.

The 31-year-old tribal woman, who was killed on November 7, was subjected to third-degree torture and suffered 99 per cent burns, according to her autopsy report.

Several body parts and limbs of the victim were missing and viscera for chemical analysis could not be collected as most were charred and unrecognisable, the autopsy report added. "Right upper limb and parts of both lower limbs and the facial structure found missing," it stated.

More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in the violence between the Imphal valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023. The ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June last year.

The Centre imposed the President’s Rule in Manipur on February 13 this year after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned.

The violence started after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.