Five people identified as being former members of a Kuki insurgent group were arrested on Sunday for allegedly murdering a Thadou Community International group leader, who had participated in a meeting with Meitei groups in Imphal earlier this month, in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Saturday night.
The victim, Nehkam Jomhao (59), who was the chairman of a community group called Thadou Literary Society Assam, had been missing from his home in a village close to Manja town in Karbi Anglong district since Saturday night.
As of Sunday evening, his body had not yet been recovered. However, Karbi Anglong SP Sanjib Kumar Saikia told The Indian Express that five individuals, who are former members of the Kuki Revolutionary Army, were arrested on Sunday after they allegedly confessed to murdering him and disposing of his body in a river near his house.
“We were alerted through social media that an incident had taken place in the home of the victim. We are investigating the matter to ascertain the motive. The five arrested persons have confessed to the murder and to throwing the body in the river. A search is ongoing to locate the body,” said SP Saikia.
The arrested people have been identified as Samson Kuki, Jangpu Hangsing, Mangeo Sitlhou, Thangmoi Hmar and Kakap Lienthang. Police said that while four of them are locals of Karbi Anglong, one of them has a permanent address in Nagaland. They have been booked under sections of the BNS that pertain to murder and criminal conspiracy.
A group called Thadou Kuki International and Thadou Students’ Association, General Headquarters pointed to Jomhao’s recent participation in a meeting between a delegate of members of the Thadou tribe, which is considered part of the larger Kuki-Zo umbrella, and Meitei civil society organisations in Imphal on August 16. He was part of a 16-member Thadou delegation that had visited Imphal for the meeting. The groups associated with this delegation distance themselves from the term ‘Kuki’ and claim that Thadou is a distinct ethnic group of people. This stand is at odds with other tribal Kuki-Zo groups and the older Thadou Inpi General Headquarters, which is part of the Kuki Zo Council, accuses them of not being representative of the community.
SP Saikia said this angle is being considered in the investigation, as well as inputs that one of the accused reportedly had a “personal rivalry” with the victim.
