Manipur policemen suspended for using excessive force
Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said on Thursday that two policemen have been suspended for using excessive force on students who had tried to storm the BJP office here on Monday. Biren Singh visited Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur General Secretary Sital Oinam on Thursday who is undergoing treatment in a private hospital. “I was shocked to see the video footage of the police crackdown on students who were trying to storm the Raj Bhavan and BJP office demanding removal of Manipur University Vice Chancellor A.P. Pandey,” he said. The Chief Minister announced the suspension of a Sub Inspector and a constable. He also said that the government will bear all expenses on Oinam’s treatment. Students alleged the policemen pushed Oinam onto the main road and he was overrun by a truck. He sustained multiple fractures. Referring to the growing demand for the removal of Pandey, who has been accused of administrative and financial irregularities, the Chief Minister said he had no authority since the institution was a Central University. A three-member committee headed by T. Nandakumar, formerly of the Meghalaya High Court, has been constituted to look into the charges levelled against the Vice Chancellor. “If the charges against Pandey are substantiated, he will automatically resign,” Biren Singh added. (IANS)
Former Arunachal MLA’s death case handed to CBI
Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government has handed over the probe into the death of former MLA Ngurang Pinch eight months ago to the CBI, official sources said on Thursday. The government’s decision to hand over the case to the central investigating agency was communicated to the CBI director by state Home Commissioner A C Verma yesterday, the sources said. The letter termed the case as “serious and sensitive” and said despite handing it over the case to crime branchs special investigating team (SIT) nothing conclusive emerged from the probe even after seven months since the case was transferred to it. “Further, there are representations from public to transfer the case to CBI,” the letter read. The body of Pinch, who was the chairman of Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board, was found floating in a river in Papum Pare district on November 18 last year. He was on a rafting expedition along with eight others the previous day and had stayed on the river bank near the confluence of the Popum and the Poma rivers. The MLA was found missing on that day and on searching his body was found floating in the river between Basar Nallo and Rana Ghat on the Assam side. Pinch’s family members have alleged that his death was a well-planned murder and demanded that the CBI take over the probe from the SIT as the state crime branch failed to act against a few people. (PTI)