NEW DELHI – A Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Army’s 3 Corps Intelligence Unit has in an affidavit filed in the High Court of Manipur alleged that an army team perpetrated extortion and killing of innocent people in the state. Lieutenant Colonel Dharamvir Singh submitted the affidavit in connection with a Habeas Corpus petition filed by his wife Ranju Singh claiming her husband had been wrongfully detained. The High Court has directed the Army to file their counter affidavit before August 1.
The affidavit alleged that Singh was taken away from his quarters in Imphal by armed jawans led by Lieutenant Colonel Nanda and Major Rathore on July 1 morning and kept under house arrest till the court directed his release five days later. The Army had refuted the claims as baseless and said the officer was sent for posting. Singh is currently on leave and staying with his family in Imphal.
In the affidavit, Singh alleged that he was the victim of an organised campaign by some senior officers who turned vindictive after he reported their wrongdoings. The affidavit claimed that on September 9, 2016, Singh wrote a complaint against the extortion and fake encounter killings of innocent boys from Manipur who were picked up from Dimapur in Nagaland and murdered in the nearby Rangapahar Cantonment. However, the affidavit alleged, he withdrew the letter following pressure from the top and after assurances that suitable action will be taken against the erring personnel.
Singh, in the affidavit, also claimed a serious threat to him and family.
The affidavit alleges three alleged fake encounters and an extortion case perpetrated by a single team of the 3 Corps Intelligence Unit between 2010 and 2011. Singh also sought the court’s permission to submit the 13-page official letter he had prepared on September 9, 2016.
Singh’s affidavit alleged that on March 10, 2010, three Manipuri youth — identified as Phijam Naobi, RK Ronel and Th. Prem — were abducted from a rented house in Dimapur by 3 Corps Intelligence Unit and killed behind the Mess. As per media reports, bodies were found in the Lakhijan area under Bokajan police station in Karbi Anglong of Assam on March 17, 2010, it said.
A case is pending in Gauhati High Court and Major T. Ravi Kiran was the first one who wrote a letter to the then General Officer Commanding (GOC) on March 12, 2010, stating that three Manipur youths were abducted by the Army’s intelligence surveillance wing and shot dead after torture.
In a similar incident, the affidavit claimed, ST Dominic College student Satish from Manipur and his friend were picked up from Shillong by the same team on February 5, 2010 and both were killed in the jungles of Masimpur. Satish’s parents lodged a formal missing complaint to DGP Manipur on February 23, but till now no efforts have been made, the affidavit claimed.
On August 18, the affidavit alleged, PLA militant G Jiteshwar Sharma alias Gypsy and a friend were picked up from a rented room near SM College in Dimapur and killed. The bodies of both were buried behind the unit mess and few unit persons know the exact location, the affidavit claimed.
The affidavit also alleged that the same unit was behind the kidnapping of a woman and her child from Dimapur and released them after taking a ransom of Rs 1 crore from her family.
The local Army PRO said he was not authorised to comment as the matter was sub judice.
