5 Manipur cops suspended for 'custodial death'

  • | Saturday | 22nd December, 2018

IMPHAL: Five Manipur Police commandos were suspended on Friday, a day after a 37-year-old auto driver reportedly died in police custody. "Custodial killing by the police or Assam Rifles (AR) will not be allowed... Five police commandos have been suspended in connection with (auto driver) Abdul Gaffar's killing. "The AR personnel cannot be suspended by the state government since they are under the Union ministry of home affairs. Finally, at 10am on Thursday, the Lilong police station told them about an unidentified body at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here. The body was Gaffar's.

IMPHAL: Five Manipur Police commandos were suspended on Friday, a day after a 37-year-old auto driver reportedly died in police custody."Custodial killing by the police or Assam Rifles (AR) will not be allowed... Five police commandos have been suspended in connection with (auto driver) Abdul Gaffar's killing. The AR jawans involved have also been asked to surrender," Manipur chief minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said, responding to a call attention motion raised by Congress legislator Kh Joykishan Singh on the closing day of the assembly session on Friday."The AR personnel cannot be suspended by the state government since they are under the Union ministry of home affairs. However, legal action will be taken against them," he added.AR soldiers and Manipur Police commandos had picked up Gaffar from his residence in the Muslim-majority Ushoipokpi area in Thoubal district at 2.30am on Thursday."When I asked the security men why he was being taken away, they said it would be known only after the arrest," his wife Serabhanu Bibi had told TOI. Serabhanu and Gaffar's father ran from pillar to post but got no information about his whereabouts. Finally, at 10am on Thursday, the Lilong police station told them about an unidentified body at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here. The body was Gaffar's. Locals claimed the body was handed over to the hospital by the security forces in the morning.When news of the incident spread, locals blocked NH-39, connecting Imphal to the commercial border town of Moreh, demanding action against the security personnel. They also set up a joint action committee, which negotiated the terms for calling off the blockade - suspension of the police commandos and an inquiry into the incident - with the CM and signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government. In case these terms were not met, the group had said, a blockade would be put up on NH-102, which also links Imphal to Moreh.

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