IMPHAL/KOCHI, 16 Jun: Union Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh’s house in Imphal town was vandalised by a mob which also tried to burn it down, officials said.
Security guards and firefighters managed to control arson attempts by the mob and save the minister’s house from being gutted on Thursday night, they said.
The development comes after the burning of two houses and clashes between the Rapid Action Force (RAF) of Manipur and a mob in the heart of Imphal town on Thursday afternoon.
The mob, which roamed the town late on Thursday, also clashed with security forces, officials said.
Reacting to the developments, Singh told PTI, “I am trying to bring peace and stop violence since 3 May (when ethnic clashes began in the state). This is all a misunderstanding between two communities. The government has set up a peace committee, the process is on. Civil society leaders are sitting together.”
The minister, who is currently in Kochi to attend a party event, cancelled all programmes in Kerala to return home, stating, “There was an incident at my residence in Manipur last night.”
He said that “the house is (from) my own hard-earned money. I am not corrupt. No one is corrupt in this regime. If this was something religious, then I am a Hindu. The attackers were Hindus. So, this is not religious. This is a mob.”
Singh said that the government will talk to all communities and find a way out.
Sounds of firing could be heard in Imphal East district till the early hours of Friday as security forces fired numerous rounds of tear gas shells and mock bombs to disperse angry locals protesting the killing of nine civilians on Wednesday.
Two protesters and one RAF jawan were injured during the confrontation. The RAF constable was hit by a stone on his head, said officials.
Protesters in Nongmeibung and Wangkhei blocked the main streets by piling up stones and construction materials and engaged in pitch battles with security forces, they said.
Condemning the killing of nine people in the Khamenlok area of Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that search and combing operations are on by security forces to nab the culprits.
Singh also asserted that his government would safeguard the unity and integrity of the state and will not do anything which is against the interest of the people of the state.
“Search and combing operations have been conducted at different places, including Kurangpat and Yaingangpokpi, by a team consisting of paramilitary forces and Manipur Police to nab the culprits and stringent actions will be taken against those involved in such heinous crime,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The death of nine people in a gun battle outside a Kuki village has further embittered relations and led to mob violence elsewhere, including in capital Imphal, where clashes erupted on Thursday and two houses were torched.
The CM said that search operations have been conducted in 41 villages of the hill areas and 39 villages in the adjoining valley areas.
At least nine people were killed and 10 injured when suspected miscreants attacked a village in Khamenlok area of the state in the early hours of Wednesday.
More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki community people in Manipur that broke out a month ago.
The state has imposed a curfew since 11 districts and banned the internet in a bid to stop the spread of rumours in the state. (PTI)