Friday, November 13, 2009

Witnesses testify July 23 shootout

I
MPHAL: In a new twist to the July 23 "fake" encounter, two witnesses on Wednesday told the Justice Agarwal Commission that they saw an encounter
between a man wearing a black shirt and police commandos on that day.

Incidentally, Chungkham Sanjit Singh, a former militant who was killed in the shootout, had sported a black shirt that day. Besides Sanjit, a woman was also killed and five others were injured in the incident that took place at the crowded Khwairamband Bazaar. People took it to be a "fake" encounter after looking at the photographs published by the media which showed Sanjit surrounded by commandos minutes before his death.

S Dhaneshwor and W Rominchandra Singh, both cousins, on Wednesday told the commission that they saw two commandos standing on one side of Bir Tikendrajit Road checking a youth for a mark on the arm in the morning of July 23.

Dhaneshwor said the youth was wearing a black half shirt. While one commando was trying to lift the shirt, the young man ran away by pushing the cop. "The youth ran towards the East and started firing. Seeing this, I stopped my vehicle (van) and people started running hither and thither. The two commandos shouted and fired at the youth," Dhaneshor testified before the commission headed by Justice (retired) PG Agarwal here.

Thereafter, the youth ran for a certain distance and started firing at the commandos again after which he ran towards the market, the witness said. He added that the two commandos began chasing the youth. "I then started my vehicle and saw an injured person. We took him in our vehicle and dropped at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) hospital. The name of the injured was P Lukhoi as told by him at the hospital," Dhaneshwor said. He added that he met some police personnel who took him and his cousin to a city police station in Imphal West where their statements were recorded.

Earlier, the commission recorded the statements of two other witnesses Chandrakumar Singh, proprietor of a pharmacy along BT Road and Keshorani Devi. The probe panel had also asked the commandant of 3 Assam Rifles, Churachandpur, to produce rifleman P Lukhoi Singh (one of the injured persons in the shootout) before the commission.

0 comments:

Post a Comment