Villagers at Sawombung in Imphal East district overpowered two persons, including one personnel of Manipur Rifles, who were allegedly trying to assassinate a ranking leader of the BJP on Wednesday night. Police has beefed up security measures throughout Imphal East and Imphal West districts to ensure that there is no untoward incident when Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister and the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, halts in Imphal for a few hours on Saturday. He is slated to address a public meeting at Langjing Achouba in Imphal west district.
Sources said that villagers of Sawombung became suspicious when three persons were seen roaming in the road around 11: 30pm. The villagers rushed out to overpower them. One of the suspects, however, managed to escape. The two persons have been identified as Langbanjao Panmei, a havildar in 5 Manipur Rifles and Nanda Kamei. Two 9 mm pistols with 15 rounds of ammunition were recovered from them. Preliminary reports said that they were planning to assassinate a ranking BJP leader whose house is at Lalmai near Sawombung. Police were interrogating them.
