The discovery of sophisticated explosives in the same village where two siblings were killed in a bomb attack is expected to intensify scrutiny over earlier claims blaming Kuki militant groups.
BY PC Bureau
The recovery, made on Monday at Tronglaobi Maning Leikai Guru Khana under Moirang police station, has introduced fresh complexities into a case that had already triggered statewide outrage and intense political controversy.
The April 7 explosion in Tronglaobi village claimed the lives of a five-year-old boy and his five-month-old sister, sparking widespread anger across the Meitei community. In the aftermath, groups of Meira Paibis — the influential Meitei women torchbearers — staged days of emotional all-night protests, demanding justice and immediate identification of those responsible. Demonstrations frequently turned tense, with protesters clashing with security personnel while accusing the government of failing to protect civilians.
Amid mounting pressure, the Manipur government transferred the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has since been probing the killings.
Until now, the dominant narrative pushed by several Meitei civil society organisations and political leaders held Kuki militant groups responsible for the attack. Manipur Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam had publicly stated that suspected cadres of the United Kuki National Army (UKNA) had been arrested in connection with the case.
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However, the UKNA and several Kuki civil society organisations strongly denied involvement from the very beginning. They argued that Tronglaobi lies well beyond the buffer zone separating Bishnupur district from Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district, making infiltration by armed cadres carrying rockets, mortars, or sophisticated explosives highly improbable.
The latest recovery of two sophisticated IEDs from houses belonging to Meitei individuals is now expected to significantly alter the course of the investigation and intensify scrutiny over earlier assumptions surrounding the attack.
According to reports, the explosives were recovered from separate abandoned houses belonging to Ningthoujam Ibomcha (54) and another individual identified as Rambo (36). Acting on specific intelligence inputs, Moirang police called in the CID (Technical) Bomb Disposal Squad, which safely defused both devices at around 12:45 pm on Monday.
Officials said the explosives were powerful enough to cause major casualties and destruction if detonated.
The village itself has remained deeply scarred by the ethnic violence that erupted across Manipur on May 3, 2023. Once home to nearly 50 households, Tronglaobi was largely deserted as residents fled during the conflict. Only recently have families begun returning under government-backed peace and rehabilitation initiatives aimed at restoring normalcy in violence-hit areas.
Local residents alleged that suspected militants may have planted the IEDs to terrorise families attempting to resettle in the village and discourage rehabilitation efforts. Police have registered a case and launched a detailed investigation into the source and intended use of the explosives.
The recovery is likely to raise uncomfortable questions for investigators and political stakeholders alike, especially as it directly challenges the earlier narrative that exclusively blamed Kuki armed groups for the child killings.
With the NIA already probing the April 7 attack, the discovery of explosives inside houses owned by members of the Meitei community could open up new lines of inquiry into whether multiple actors were involved, whether explosives had been stockpiled locally, or whether the initial claims surrounding the attack were incomplete or premature.
As tensions continue to simmer in Manipur, the latest development is expected to further deepen public debate over accountability, competing narratives, and the still-fragile security situation in the conflict-ridden state.
