Imphal, July 12: Police claim to have found a bloodstained kitchen knife during a search of the residence of the Manipuri woman who was allegedly tortured by Assam Rifles personnel before being shot dead in contentious circumstances early yesterday.

The Assam Rifles said Thangjam Manorama alias Henthoi, 32, was a member of the banned People’s Liberation Army and was shot dead when she tried to flee following her arrest. The woman’s family refuted the paramilitary force’s version and refused to accept the body, which is being kept at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.

Though the findings of the post-mortem have not been made public, a senior police officer corroborated reports about cut marks on Manorama’s inner thighs and genitals. He said the dry blood stains on the kitchen knife suggested it was used to inflict the injuries.

The slain woman’s family accused the Assam Rifles troops of fetching the knife from the kitchen and torturing her inside the house before taking her away.

A team from the 17 Assam Rifles battalion picked up Manorama from the family’s residence at Bamonkampu Mayai Leikai around 3.30 am. Farmers spotted the bullet-riddled body at Ngariyan Wangkhem, about 4 km from the house, after dawn.

The arrest memo, which was signed by a havildar named Suresh Kumar and handed to Manorama’s mother, states that she was taken into custody on suspicion of being a militant and that no incriminating evidence was found when the house was searched.

The official spokesman for the 9 Sector of the Assam Rifles, however, contradicted the memo. He said in a statement late in the evening that a wireless radio, a hand grenade and a sheaf of incriminating documents were seized from the “self-styled PLA corporal”.

The spokesman said Manorama tried to escape while leading the Assam Rifles team to a PLA hideout. “As the last resort, the troops opened fire.”

Protests over the killing today snowballed into a mass uprising against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which most people hold responsible for the alleged excesses by security forces.

The protesters rejected chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s offer to institute a judicial inquiry into the killing, instead demanding immediate punishment to the Assam Rifles personnel who arrested and killed Manorama.

A pressure group that calls itself the Manipur Forward Youth Front has called a 48-hour bandh from midnight.

The commander of the 9 Sector, Brig V.K. Pillai, had assured the chief minister of an inquiry.