Policemen remove burning tyres from an Imphal road during the general strike on Tuesday. (PTI)

Imphal, Aug. 19: Manipur is ready to take the battle for Monika Devi to the Supreme Court after the daylong strike called to demand punishment of sports officials who left her out of the Beijing Olympics contingent evoked a total response today.

A coordinating committee of Manipur Olympic Association, sports organisations and public organisations sponsored the 24-hour strike throughout Manipur from 5am today after giving New Delhi a week’s time to punish the culprits and also apologise to the people of the state.

Monika, who arrived here on Sunday, fully supports the decision taken by the coordinating committee and announced yesterday that she would not be taking part in competitions until the guilty persons were punished.

The committee announced during a public meeting on August 11 that it would observe a general strike today if the Centre failed to respondwithin a week. The deadline ended yesterday.

The co-convenor of the coordinating committee, Th. Manihar, said the committee was consulting legal experts to file a case in the Supreme Court.

“We do not believe that the one-man inquiry by former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy can go to the bottom of the conspiracy against Monika and punish the guilty,” Manihar said. He, however, said the committee would send a team to Delhi to file the case in the Supreme Court but the matter was yet to be finalised.

Union sports minister M.S. Gill on his return from Beijing constituted the one-man committee in response to a demand by Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh for a CBI probe.

Chief secretary Rakesh Sharma had written to the Prime Minister demanding an inquiry by the agency.

Today’s bandh evoked a total response in most parts of the state with Imphal city remaining shut. Vehicles stayed off the roads and all transport services were suspended for the day.

Functioning of government offices was affected. The strike supporters burnt effigies of SAI director R.K. Naidu, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi and Monika’s rival lifter Saileja Kumari from Andhra Pradesh in different parts of the state.

Monika blamed the trio of colluding to exclude her from the national contingent to Beijing. Supporting the strike, SAI players enforced the bandh by turning back vehicles at Lilong in Thoubal district.

Protesters also burnt tyres on the roads at several places. However, there was no report of any strike-related violence. The bandh was total in Bishnupur — Monika’s home district.

The government deployed adequate security personnel, particularly in the valley areas, fearing trouble.