Autopsy of bodies of five persons missing from Manipur's Jiribam completed in Assam's Silchar

Silchar: The post-mortem examination of five bodies of persons who went missing from Manipur's Jiribam district has been completed at a state-run hospital in Assam's Silchar town, sources said on Monday.

The bodies of five of the six persons who went missing from Manipur's Jiribam after a gunfight between security forces and Kuki-Zo militants that resulted in the deaths of 10 insurgents on November 11, were found in Jiri River in Jiribam and Barak River in Assam's Cachar over the last few days and were brought to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in a "highly decomposed state".

The six persons, including three women and children each from the Meitei community, went missing from a relief camp in Jiribam's Borobekra area and were allegedly abducted by Kuki-Zo militants.

"The post-mortem examination of all the five bodies has been done in SMCH. The doctors concerned are in the process to prepare the report," a source privy to the development told PTI.

He said now Manipur Police will make necessary arrangements for taking the bodies back to their state and handing over the mortal remains to the bereaved family members but when it will be done is not yet known.

With this, five of the six people have been traced, while one remained missing.

A senior official from Assam Police Headquarters said that the local unit of Cachar district is carrying out search operations in Barak River to locate the sixth person.

"We have been told by Manipur Police that those six persons were most likely killed and thrown into the river. Already two bodies, which came floating from Jiribam, were fished out yesterday," he added.

The official said all the bodies reached the SMCH morgue in a "highly decomposed" state.

Initially, the bodies of a woman and two children were found floating in Jiri River in Jiribam and were brought to SMCH on Friday.

Two more bodies of a woman and one child were found floating in Barak River on Sunday morning in neighbouring Cachar district of Assam.

The six missing persons were identified as Yumrembam Rani Devi (60), Telem Thoibi Devi (31) and her daughter Telem Thajamanbi Devi (8), Laishram Heithoibi Devi (25) and her two children Laishram Chingkheinganba Singh (two-and-a-half-years old) and Laishram Lamnganba Singh (10 months).

Meanwhile, hundreds of Meitei men and women gathered in front of Khudiram Bose statue in Silchar on Sunday night and held a candle light protest against the abduction and suspected murder of the six persons.

Following escalating violence in recent weeks in Jiribam, bordering Assam's Cachar, an alert has been sounded in the district with round-the-clock patrolling initiated in the remote border areas.

The ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes in Imphal Valley and the adjoining hills, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June this year.

More than 220 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.