Shocking: Army Personnel Reveals Incidents Of ‘Custodial Killings’, Manipuri Youths Shot Dead, Buried Behind Army Unit Camp

A Lieutenant Colonel with the Indian Army, Dharamvir Singh, revealed chilling details of ‘custodial killings’ by the security forces, in an affidavit filed with the Manipur High Court on Saturday. 

In the affidavit, he described that three Manpuri youths were arrested and shot dead behind the unit mess of Counter Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (CIS) in 2000. Their bodies were then dumped in the jungles of Karbi Anglong area in Assam. CIS was then a secret wing of the Indian Army operating in Assam. 

Lt. Col. Singh was unceremoniously ‘arrested’  by the Indian Army on July 1. Singh was released after his wife filed a Habeas corpus plea in Manipur Hight Court.

A major of CIS, T Ravi Kiran, had written a letter to the higher authorities, detailing the cold-blooded murder of three youths, following which an inquiry was conducted. However, the involved army personnel were pronounced innocent and the case was closed, reported The Statesman. 

Another such brutal killing, of the assistant publicity secretary of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) of Manipur was orchestrated by the unit. G Jiteshwar Sharma and an accomplice, were arrested on August 18, 2011, shot dead and then buried behind the unit mess. 

Another Manipuri youth, Thangjam Satish was killed in a similar fashion by the CIS. 

Lt-Col Dharamvir Singh had tried to bring this issue to light in September 2016. Singh had written a letter revealing the ‘custodial killings’ of three Manipuri youths by CIS.

Army authorities then told Singh that his complaint will be looked into. However, he was later forced to withdraw his complaint.

This forces us to question if Singh’s arrest/abduction in front of his wife and children on July 1, was an attempt to keep him from spilling the beans on the extra judicial killings?