NSCN(IM) admits Manipur SDO killing by cadre

Kohima , Feb 23 The NSCN (IM) today admitted that one of its senior cadres was responsible for the killing of a Manipur sub-divisional officer and his two staffers in Ukhrul district, but emphasised that the act was not"officially"sanctioned.

The accused, an NSCN (IM)'s commander', had confessed to the crime, saying he took the decision by his own conscience and it had no official sanction, a statement issued by the outfit from its headquarters Camp Hebrom, near Dimapur, said.

The statement expressed"utter disappointment that one of its commanding cadres of the Kiusumong battalion ( Ukhrul region) was the brain behind the brutal killing."

Th Kisahan, SDO of Kasom Khullen, his driver Aribam Rajen and assistant Y Tokem were kidnapped on their way to Ukhrul on February 13, but their battered bodies were found at a place in nearby Senapati district on February 17, sparking off a violent protest in Imphal valley which forced the Manipur government to clamp curfew.

Claiming that the accused was being tried in the military court of' Naga army', the statement quoted the guilty cadre as alleging that the SDO had misappropriated public money allotted for development schemes in Kasom Khullen sub-division among other charges.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram reportedly reviewed the situation in Manipur and Nagaland in the wake of the SDO&aposs killing at a high-level meeting recently in New Delhi.