CBI arrests Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol activist from Imphal airport

New Delhi: The CBI arrested a member of Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol (AT) on Sunday for his alleged involvement in various criminal activities related to the 2023 Manipur violence, officials said. Kanan Singh was arrested by the CBI at the Imphal airport, they added. He was immediately taken to Guwahati, where he will be produced before a court for his police remand.

"The information related to his arrest has been given to his family members," a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson said in a statement. The federal agency is probing cases related to the Manipur ethnic violence in accordance with a direction of the Supreme Court. "The trials of the Manipur violence cases have been shifted from Manipur to Guwahati in view of the law-and-order situation in Manipur," the spokesperson said. The situation in state capital Imphal was tense after reports of the arrest of the AT leader started circulating on Saturday.

The CBI statement made it clear that Singh was arrested from the Imphal airport on Sunday. As a preventive measure, the administration has issued prohibitory orders in Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Bishnupur and Kakching districts, while internet and mobile-data services, including VSAT and VPN facilities, have been suspended in these valley areas. Protesters torched tyres and old furniture on roads in Kwakeithel and Uripok, demanding the release of the Meitei leader.

They clashed with security forces at different places in the state capital on Saturday night. A mob also set a bus on fire at Khurai Lamlong in Imphal East district. More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups in Manipur since May 2023. The Centre imposed the President's rule in the northeastern state on February 13 after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned. The state Assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.