The Gauhati High Court's Imphal Bench on Friday ordered the District and Sessions Court, Imphal East, to inquire into the killing of a young man in an ‘encounter' with a combined force of police commandos and 23 Assam Rifles, and submit its report within six months.
A Bench of Justices T. Nandakumar and M. Binoykumar was acting on a writ petition filed by the former MLA, Loitongbam Sarat, whose son Loitongbam Satish (38) was killed in the alleged encounter at 6 p.m. on May 18, 2009.
The petition said Satish and his friend, Pebam Gunindro (45), who had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls on BJP ticket, had gone to the Central Jail at Sajiwa to meet an elder brother of Satish detained there. Both were allegedly intercepted by troopers of 23 Assam Rifles a little distance away from the prison and whisked away.
On the night of May 18, police commandos of Thoubal district and troopers of 23 Assam Rifles produced the body of Satish with the report that he was killed in an encounter at Laikoi in Imphal East. Agitations have been launched since Gunindro, who is now in hiding, alleged that Satish had been taken away from the detention cell on the evening of May 18.
