According to officials, a group of “anti-social elements” stormed the house of Konsam Kheda Singh at around 9 AM on Friday morning, bundled him into a vehicle and fled the spot. Singh, a resident of Charangpat Mamang Leikai in Thoubal district, is serving as a JCO in the Indian Army and was on leave, they said.

Police said the motive behind the Army man’s abduction is not known yet, but initial reports suggest that it is a case of extortion as his family had received such threats in the past.

 Meanwhile, following the JCO’s abduction, police and other law enforcement agencies launched a coordinated search operation to rescue him and set up checkpoints at several locations.

 “Checking of all vehicles plying on National Highway 102 is currently in progress. The cause of the abduction is not known and further details are awaited,” said an officer.

 Notably, this the fourth such case since ethnic conflict erupted in Manipur wherein soldiers while on leave, on duty or their relatives have been targeted for nefarious interests by inimical elements.

In September 2023, Serto Thangthang Kom, a former Assam Regiment soldier, was kidnapped and killed by an unidentified armed group from the valley.

Kom was posted in Manipur’s Leimakhong with the Defence Service Corps (DSC).

Two months later, an unidentified armed group kidnapped four people while they were travelling in an SUV from the hill district Churachandpur to Leimakhong, and killed them.

 The four were family members of an Indian Army soldier serving in Jammu and Kashmir.

 A fifth passenger, the father of the soldier, who was injured, managed to escape and was later airlifted by the army to Dimapur for treatment. He was eventually shifted to the base hospital in Guwahati, Assam.

 An Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) from Manipur Police was attacked in his house in Imphal city on February 27.

 Following the incident, police commandos of Manipur laid down their arms in Imphal and other areas.

 The open defiance of discipline in the police ranks on the morning of the commencement of the state assembly (February 28, 2024) prompted Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh to visit the police officer in the hospital and also hold discussions with the senior police officials to address their grievances.

 Manipur Police also published a statement blaming the notorious group AT for the attack and warned all miscreants to refrain from such acts and indicating that the prevalence of such conditions will result in the reimposition of AFSPA in the valley.

 Officials rued that the security forces working tirelessly to restore peace and normalcy in the restive state are being targeted for performing their duty. “Attacks by the inimical elements on security forces and their families need to be strongly condemned and perpetrators caught and punished as per the law,” they said.

 At least 219 people have been killed in the ethnic strife in Manipur which erupted on May 3 last year after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

 Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.