Man goes missing at Army camp in Manipur, people outrage to get him

Imphal: A Meitei man who went to work at the 57 Mountain Division campus of the Indian Army, Leimakhong, Imphal West district of Manipur went missing since Monday evening.

The missing man, Laishram Kamalbabu, 56, originally from Gosaipur in Cachar district of Assam. He was presently residing at Loitang Khunou in, Imphal West. He works as a supervisor for MS Binod Constructions, a firm engaged in construction projects on the Army campus.

Kamalbabu goes to the Army campus for his duty at 9 am and returns at around 5 pm daily, a relative of Kamalbabu told reporters. He said Kamalbabu left for work on Monday morning at around 9 am on a scooter. As he had not returned home till late he was called on phone, but his phone was found switched off. His whereabouts remained unknown.

A family member who met the GOC of the 57 Mountain Division, Major General SS Kartikeya, quoted him of saying that around 2,000 army personnel have been deployed to trace the missing person. Kartikeya also informed the family that all CCTV footage from the campus had been reviewed, but no evidence of Kamal signing out was found. He expressed that while he could not assure Kamal’s safe return, the search operations remained ongoing.

One of the laborers working under Kamal told reporters, “I met him at the worksite around 1:30, since then I haven’t seen him.”

The situation remains tense as women from the Sekmai Assembly Constituency gathered in large numbers, blocking roads and demanding answers.

The family had also filed a missing person report at Sekmai police station.

The Army and police launched a search operation to locate Kamalbabu. The Army told the relatives to let them know on his missing by 10 am of Monday.

Irate locals stormed at Kanto Sabal and blocked Leimakhong road on Tuesday, demanding to swiftly take action to find the missing man.

The protesters were suspicious of involvement of Kuki militants in the disappearance of the man and outraged over the incident allegedly occurring on the Army campus.

The Army erected barbed wire barriers on the toad to block protestors.

This missing episode has appeared while the issue of killing six civilians by Kuki terrorists after abducting from Jiribam.

Wife of Kamal Babu, through a video message, appeals to release her husband if any group has abducted him, and asked the people to help find him back safe.