CBI books Major for 2009 Manipur 'encounter' death

The CBI has registered a murder case against Army Major Vijay Singh Balhara and seven others in the killing of a 12-year-old boy in Manipur in an alleged "encounter" in 2009, the agency said on Thursday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Balhara in an FIR it filed on Tuesday against the accused in the death of Azad Khan. Balhara was attached with Assam Rifles and was heading a team when the alleged 'encounter' took place.

The CBI's move comes after the Supreme Court on July 14 directed the agency to go through the records of the case, lodge necessary FIR and complete the investigation on the basis of a report submitted by the Justice Santosh Hegde Commission.

Khan's father Wahid Ali, a resident of Phoubakchao village in Manipur, had deposed before Justice Hegde Commission that his son was killed by the personnel of Manipur Police Commando in a staged encounter after picking him from his home on March 4, 2009.

Besides Balhara, Broason Thanga (Havaldar), Suresh Meitei (then Havaldar) and Thangjapo Toithang (a driver) are named along with four other unidentified security persons in the CBI FIR.

All the accused allegedly took Khan, a Class VII student with no criminal antecedents, from his home before his death, the Commission said in its report.

The evidence given by the security forces revealed that the deceased was a suspected member of the Peoples United Liberation Front (PULF) and that the group was not a banned organisation as per the Manipur government.

Khan's family had said that at 11.50 a.m., about 30 security personnel came to the house and dragged Khan to a nearby field where he was severely beaten up amid protests from parents.

On the Supreme Court's July 14 direction, the CBI registered another FIR on Tuesday naming two then Army Havaldars -- Laisram Premkumar Singh and L. Romesh Singh -- and three other security personnel in the death of Khumbongmayum Orsonjit Singh on March 16, 2010 in an alleged "encounter", which has also been investigated by Justice Hegde.

The two cases were termed as "fake encounter" by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Santosh Hegde Commission.

--IANS

rak/prs/mr