SI suspended, 3 cops sacked over lynching in Manipur

Imphal, September 17

Three days after a 26-year-old man was lynched in Imphal West district on suspicion of being a vehicle lifter, the police have suspended a sub-inspector and terminated the services of three other officers.

The purported video of the incident, which went viral on social media, showed that the four police personnel were “present at the spot when the victim was alive and lying unattended”, Imphal West SP Jogeshwar Haobijam said.

Farooque Khan, a resident of Thoubal district, was lynched by an irate mob early on Thursday at Tharoijam area in West Imphal on suspicion that he had stolen a two-wheeler. Two others with Khan, who managed to escape, have not been identified so far.

Local people set afire a car believed to have been used by the “two associates” of Khan.

“One sub-inspector has been suspended while services of three personnel of Village Defence Forces were terminated on Sunday as one of the several videos of the incident circulated on social media showed that the four personnel were present at the spot when Khan was lying unattended,” Haobijam said.

The episode has triggered sharp condemnations and sit-in protests by various social activists in the area. The Manipur Human Rights Commission took up the case suo motu and directed the state Director General of Police to probe the matter and submit a report by September 22.

Five people, including a havildar attached to the IRB, have been arrested so far. — PTI