Imphal, June 27: The Assam Rifles? probe into the alleged encounter death of Pheiroijam Kishorjit Singh, a nephew of Manipur minister Pheiroijam Parijat Singh, resumed after a day?s gap with the paramilitary force shifting its court of inquiry to the location demanded by residents of the area from where the deceased hailed.
Three witnesses from Nongada in Imphal East turned up at Lamlai police station for the hearing, but the joint action committee constituted by residents of the locality continued to mount pressure on the Assam Rifles for punishment to the personnel who gunned down Kishorjit past midnight on June 20. The committee said the slain youth?s shraddha would not be performed until the court of inquiry gave the right verdict in the case.
Members of women?s organisations staged a demonstration at Keiebi Bazaar in the same district, demanding action against the Assam Rifles personnel responsible for the youth?s death.
The paramilitary force claims Kishorjit was a member of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party and killed in an encounter with troops, but residents of Nongada maintain that he was the owner of a drugstore and had no link with any militant group. Kishorjit?s family accepted his body last week and cremated it.
The civilian witnesses in the case had refused to appear before the court of inquiry, which began proceedings at the Assam Rifles base at Yaingangpokpi in Imphal East on Saturday, if the venue was not shifted to Lamlai police station. The authorities relented after a request from Parijat Singh, who is the art and culture minister in the Okram Ibobi Singh government.
Police sources said Ranjit Singh, the eldest brother of Kishorjit, was among the three witnesses whose statements were recorded by the court of inquiry. The next hearing is slated for July 1.
Standing in for chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, senior cabinet member Th. Devendra Singh told the Assembly during Question Hour that the police and the Assam Rifles were separately investigating the circumstances leading to Kishorjit?s death.
