IMPHAL: Following Lt Col Dharamvir Singh's claims of extra-judicial killings carried out by the Army, the elder brother of one of the 'victims' said on Monday that their family would file a fresh case in the Gauhati high court, seeking punishment for the personnel allegedly involved in the crime.After the Army allegedly took Dharamvir into custody on July 1, his wife, Ranju Singh, submitted an affidavit to the Manipur high court on July 20, in which there were allegations of the Army being involved in fake encounters. The affidavit made claims of the Army being involved in extra-judicial killings of seven persons - five of whom were from Manipur, including Jiteshwar (aka Gypsy or GM Changjou), who was a leader of the proscribed People's Liberation Army (PLA).G Nutunchandra Sharma, the elder brother of Jiteshwar, held a press conference in Imphal on Monday and said he wanted justice for his brother. Nutunchandra said when his younger brother had gone missing, his family members filed a petition (Habeas Corpus) in the Imphal bench of the Gauhati high court on September 1, 2011, seeking to locate him."We had also lodged an FIR at the Dimpapur police station and did everything we could to find him. But everything proved to be futile and as Jiteshwar couldn't be traced, the case was closed in the high court. Now after the stunning claims made by Lt Col Dharamvir, we will now file a fresh case in the high court, seeking punishment of the Army personnel involved in the crime," Nutunchandra added.Acting on a petition filed by Ranju Singh, Dharamvir was produced before the Manipur High Court on July 11. Ranju had alleged that her husband was picked up by an Army team from their quarters in Imphal on July 1. The Army's lawyer, however, claimed that Dharamvir had been neither detained nor taken into Army custody, but he was escorted back from Imphal to his place of original posting at Rangapahar in Dimapur The affidavit submitted by Ranju had mentioned that Dharamvir had filed a complaint to the Army authorities in September 2016, claiming that extortion and fake encounters had been carried out by the Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. Seven persons had been killed in cold blood, the affidavit claimed, adding that Dharamvir was forced to withdraw the complaint later because of the pressure exerted on him.Lauding Dharamvir's efforts, president of the Extra Judicial Execution Victims' Families Manipur (EEVFAM), Renu Takhellambam, said, "With the affidavit mentioning that seven persons were victims of these extra-judicial killings, we will try to incorporate these cases in our petition to the Supreme Court."Following a Public Interest Litigation filed jointly by EEVFAM and Human Rights Alert (HRA), the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case of 1,528 cases of alleged fake encounters carried out by the security forces in Manipur from 2000 to 2012. The CBI director told the Supreme Court on Monday that two chargesheets have been filed in connection with these cases and five more final reports will be filed in separate cases by August 31.

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