A joint team of police and central forces in Manipur on Wednesday apprehended the prime accused in the September 19 ambush on an Assam Rifles team in Meitei-majority Bishnupur district.
The breakthrough was announced through a media statement issued by the office of the director-general of police, Manipur, which said a special operation was carried out by a joint team of Imphal West and Bishnupur district police, personnel of the 33rd Assam Rifles and other security forces.
The police statement said Khundongbam Ujit Singh, 47, was apprehended during the joint operation launched at 1am on Wednesday against armed militants present in the Kameng area of Imphal West district.
The apprehended person admitted during spot interrogation that “he is a bailed-out member” of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur, a valley-based proscribed separatist insurgent group which was formed in 1978.
Personnel of the Assam Rifles were attacked in a crowded denotified area on September 19 evening, killing two troopers and injuring five.
Denotified areas are exempted from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives sweeping powers to security forces to detain, search, arrest and shoot to maintain order.
This was a major insurgent strike in the strife-hit state after the Kuki-Zo militants’ attack on a CRPF post in Jiribam district in November 2024. In retaliatory firing, 10 militants were killed.
The police statement further said the arrested accused, Singh, admitted that he continues to work for the PLA. It added that Singh was earlier arrested on April 22, 2007, and that he was “directly involved” in the September 19 ambush at Sabel Leikai, Nambol around 05.30pm against the Assam Rifles personnel.
“After firing at the AR personnel, he (Singh), along with others, fled towards the Loktak lake side and hid their arms and ammunition at a secret location,” it added.
Based on his revelation, the weapons “used” in the ambush were recovered. Five rifles, including two AK 47s and one INSAS, along with 14 magazines; three lathode shells; 170 rounds of AK ammunition; 216 rounds of M/16 ammunition and 67 rounds of INSAS ammunition were recovered.
A mobile handset, a wallet and an Aadhaar card were also retrieved.
“Examination of the arrested person is continuing and certain leads have been established. Raids are being carried out to apprehend other culprits involved in the said ambush,” the statement said.
The police had said on Sunday that security forces carried out a massive operation in Shantipur and Ishok areas of Nambol in the wake of the ambush and detained two persons for further verification, adding that a silver-blue Maruti van “suspected to have been used in the ambush” was also recovered during the operation.