Normal life was hit in the Kuki-Zo majority Tengnoupal district of Manipur during a 12-hour shutdown on Friday called by civil society organisations against Thursday’s arrest of the prime accused in the 2023 killing of a police officer at Moreh in the district.

The Kuki-Zo civil society organisations said in a joint statement that the arrested person was a “social leader” while describing the arrest as arbitrary. Normal life has been hit and the situation has remained tense since Thursday night, a Moreh resident said

A statement issued on Thursday by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced the arrest of
“Otkhothang Baite @ Othang Baite, in the killing of Moreh Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), SDPO Chingtham Anandakumar Singh, on October 31, 2023, in an attack by suspected Kuki militants in Manipur”.

The NIA statement also said Baite, a resident of Moreh in Tengnoupal district, was involved in the “conspiracy behind the attack by members of a suspected Kuki militant group on a district police team during the peak of ethnic violence” between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos in the northeastern state.

Moreh SDPO Singh, a Meitei, was hit by a bullet in his stomach in the attack and succumbed to his injuries, the NIA said. The Moreh police had registered a case, which was taken over by the NIA in March 2024.

The SDPO was supervising the cleaning/construction of a helipad on the Eastern Shine School Ground in Moreh when he was shot by a suspected sniper, triggering widespread protest and escalating tension in the state.

“During investigation, NIA found the conspiracy to have been aimed at creating terror in Manipur. The anti-terror agency had earlier this month arrested another accused, Kamginthang Gangte in the case,” the NIA statement said.

The civil society organisations of Tengnoupal district called a 12-hour “total shutdown” from 5am on Friday, against the arrest. Baite
belongs to the Kuki-Zo community.

The organisatopns which called the shutdown included the Kuki Chiefs’ Association, the Molnoi Area Welfare Council, the Hill Tribal Council, the Kuki Students’ Organisation and the Kuki Women Union & Human Rights.

The organisations said in a statement that Baite was the “former Chairman of Canan Veng, HTC Unit-Xi … a true dedicated and honest social leader” and that “he retired from his service due to hearing impairment and had been the sole breadearner of his family”.

“The allegation made by the Police Department against a social leader cannot be justified... This arbitrary arrest of a social leader merely based on input and FIRs given by Meitei Police Officers should stop immediately in the district,” the statement said, alleging that Kuki-Zo leaders were being targeted.

“We appeal to the central authorities especially the investigating agencies to exercise the power so that balance of justice is maintained and not on a communal line for a united India,” the statement said.

Moreh, a trading town bordering Myanmar, had seen an exodus of Meiteis after the conflict erupted on May 3, 2023.