Imphal, May 25 : Traffic along Imphal West’s Singjamei stretch of National Highway 39 came to a halt today as the protest against the killing of Loitongbam Satish intensified.
After observing a one-day bandh at Singjamei on May 22, a committee formed against the killing imposed a 12-hour blockade along the national highway, which links Imphal with the border town of Moreh, from 5am today.
The committee also held a meeting after the blockade and decided to demand a judicial inquiry into the killing of the youth.
Satish, who went missing along with a friend Pebam Gunindro since May 16, was gunned down by a joint team of the Assam Rifles and police commandos at Laikotching of Imphal East on May 18 night. The forces claimed he was killed in an encounter.
The Assam Rifles handed over Gunindro to Lamlai police station claiming that he was apprehended on May 19 from the Laikotching area.
The security forces said the two were members of the Peoples Liberation Army, a charge denied by the militant outfit and Gunindro.
Gunindro, who was freed on bail yesterday, contradicted the version given by the security forces. He said they were arrested together by security personnel in civil dresses outside Sajiwa Jail and Satish was killed in a fake encounter.
The two were coming out of the jail after meeting Karunkanta, elder brother of Satish. Karunkanta is in the jail.
The committee imposed the blockade after hearing Gunindro’s version of the incident.
Neither the Assam Rifles nor the police reacted to the accusation by Gunindro that Satish was killed in custody.
Gunindro said security personnel who held him captive agreed to hand over him to the police after he gave the word that he would not disclose how Satish died.
Protesters burnt tyres at various places along the highway in the early hours of the blockade. The police had a tough time putting off the fire and clearing the road.
The committee also demanded that security be given to Gunindro.
A delegation of the committee, accompanied by the local MLA Irengbam Hemochandra Singh, met chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh tonight and submitted the demands. It also briefed the chief minister the controversial circumstances leading to the death of Satish.