Manipur CM should quit for 'fake encounter', demands BJP

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh must resign, taking moral responsibility for an allegedly fake encounter here in 2009 after a policeman "confessed" to having killed an unarmed young man, the state unit of BJP demanded on Sunday.

"Ibobi Singh has no moral right now to stick to power. He cannot manipulate the official records since copies of the case are in the law courts, including the Supreme Court," Bharatiya Janata Party's Manipur unit chief Thounaojam Chaoba said at a press conference here.

The incident, which took place when Ibobi Singh held the state Home portfolio, involved shooting down of Sanjit Meitei (22), who was suspected to be a member of insurgent group People's Liberation Army, in a chemist's shop on a busy street here on July 23, 2009.

Manipur Police head constable Thounaojam Herojit said on January 25 that he had shot an unarmed Sanjit dead on the order - to "finish him off" - of his superior, the then additional superintendent of police (Imphal West) Akoijam Jhalajhit.

Jhalajhit has denied the head constable's charge.

The incident - which police claimed was a shootout - also involved the death of young housewife Rabina who was fatally wounded while she was going with her three-year-old son to meet her husband.

Chaoba said the stand of the BJP was that Chief Minister Ibobi Singh, who heads the Congress government in the state, should resign now.

"Akoijam Jhalajhit should be suspended as the head constable (Herojit) says that the order to kill Sanjit was given by him when he was the additional police superintendent," he said.

The party was also examining the involvement of Yumnam Joykumar, the director general of police at that time, as his name was also mentioned in connection with the shooting incident, Chaoba said.

The BJP would urge Congress president Sonia Gandhi to remove Ibobi Singh, and would launch an agitation if she did not act.

The chief minister or the Congress party has not made any comment on the "fake encounter" which has become a national issue now, he said.

Chaoba also said that the BJP would take part in a mass procession scheduled to be taken out here on February 6 in support of the "integrity of Manipur".

The Manipur government should urge the Centre to have it represented in the Naga framework talks, Chaoba said.

There have been apprehensions among some people in Manipur that the proposed Naga framework agreement will be at the cost of the territorial integrity of the state.

However, officials associated with the preparatory talks say that the viewpoints of all sections will be taken into account before the final agreement is signed.