Manipur unrest: CBI sets up 53-member probe team; 29 women officers part of team

Two additional SPs, 6 DSPs, all of whom are women, are also part of the team constituted by the CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has set up a 53-member team to probe cases, including those of violence and sexual assault, in violence affected Manipur.

Among the total 53 members, 29 are women members, including three DIG rank-officers, two additional SPs and six DSPs.

Additionally, 16 inspectors and 10 sub-inspectors are also part of the team, sources said.

The officers are drawn from CBI units across the country.

CBI is probing 12 cases since July 29 following a Supreme Court order to hand over cases to the central investigating agency and has registered eight cases, including the two related to the stripping and parading of women by a mob on May 4, an incident that sparked massive furore after its video appeared on social media on July 19.

The CBI is set to investigate nine more cases related to Manipur violence, which will take the total number of cases probed by the agency to 17, sources said.

The central probe agency will transfer all forensic samples to its Central Forensic Science Laboratory based in the national capital, the sources said.

The Supreme Court had on August 7 ordered to constitute a three-member judicial committee headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal along with retired justices Asha Menon and Shalini P Joshi to oversee the remedial measures, compensation and rehabilitation in relation to various incidents of ethnic violence in Manipur.

The apex court had ordered that a retired IPS officer, Dattatray Padsalgikar, former deputy national security advisor and ex-Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) would supervise the CBI probe into the case.

On August 1, the supreme court said there was a complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in Manipur and labelled the investigation into the loss of human lives in the conflict as “lethargic” and “tardy”. The Supreme Court had summoned the Manipur DGP to furnish an explanation in this regard in on August 7’s hearing.

More than 160 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3 when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.

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