Villagers of K Hengjang village, Kangpokpi district on Friday sought the protection of state government from cadres of Kuki National Liberation Army (KNLA) who allegedly vandalised the properties of the villagers and threatened the villagers to vacate the village on midnight of January 6.
The KNLA cadres came around 12 midnight on January 6 and threatened the villagers to leave the village before February 10, chief of K Hengjang Ngamkholal Kipgen said while briefing to the media at Manipur Press Club on Friday.
Ngamkholal said that the following day, he filed an FIR report to the director general of police regarding the incident after which a team of Imphal east police came to inspect the village on February 10.
The villagers requested the police to give them protection since the KNLA cadres threatened them to vacate the village by February 10. However, the police responded that they do not have such orders from higher officials and that they will not be able to stay back in the village, he added.
Thereafter, the villagers vacated the village and spent a night in the nearby fields. However, on February 12, the KNLA cadres even came to the fields and threatened the villagers to abandon the field after which villagers fled from the fields into the neighbouring villages, Ngamkholal said.
The FIR submitted to the DGP by the village chief on February 7 stated that a group of armed miscreants with automatic assault rifles ransacked the house of his sister-in-law on night of February 6 and a laptop was also taken away.
The report stated that the armed miscreants, numbering about 10 or more terrorized the villagers, particularly women and children by firing a number of bullet rounds. A Maruti car bearing regd No DL9C S8471 was bullet ridden.
The miscreant group who self-proclaimed as Kuki National Liberation Army (KNLA) even threatened the villagers of Bongbal Khullen and blank fired on the same night, before they entered K Hengjang Village.
The report stated that two of the individuals among the self-proscribed KNLA, Paotinthang alias Paotin Kipgen and Ngamkhogin Kipgen were accused in the murder of late Thangkhotinlet Kipgen, the then chief of K Henjang village on 10 July, 2019.
It added that one of the individuals Paotinthang was convicted in the said case and set free on bail by the court.