The attack on Jiribam’s Zairawn village has placed the militant Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol at the center of Manipur’s escalating ethnic unrest. With ties to armed uprisings and ethnic violence, the group’s radical activities are now the focus of high-profile NIA investigations.
By PC Bureau
The current spate of violence in Manipur has brought attention to the militant Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol, which allegedly orchestrated an attack on Jiribam’s Zairawn village on November 7. The attackers reportedly torched Kuki huts and and left a Hmar woman, a local schoolteacher, dead. The incident marked a significant escalation in Jiribam, a region that had previously been spared the worst of the ethnic violence sweeping the state since May.
The attack was seen as a deadly plot to trigger violent unrest in Manipur. Because Zairawn, located approximately eight kilometers from the Jiribam police station, was considered an unlikely target, with no prior tensions or provocations reported in the area.
Arambai Tenggol, founded by Manipur’s titular king and Rajya Sabha member Leishemba Sanajaoba, initially emerged in 2020 as a socio-cultural group advocating the revival of the pre-Hindu Sanamahi religion among the Meitei people. Over the past year, the outfit has gained prominence in the Imphal Valley, with an estimated 2,000 armed cadres and thousands of volunteers.
It has been implicated in violent clashes with the Kuki community, looting arms from state armories, and defending Meitei villages during the unrest in May.
The group’s radicalized actions have drawn the scrutiny of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Supreme Court recently transferred eight criminal cases involving Arambai Tenggol from Imphal to the NIA’s Special Court in Guwahati. Among them are two cases implicating the group’s chief, Korounganba Khuman, who is accused of leading violent armed uprisings.
The first case, NIA Case No. RC-03/2024, details an incident on November 1, 2023, where a large group, armed with sophisticated weapons and dressed in police uniforms, stormed the Palace Compound in Imphal East following a provocative social media call. The mob fired at police, overpowered local forces, and advanced toward Imphal West, leaving chaos in their wake.
The second case, NIA Case No. RC-04/2024, involves an attack on the 1st Manipur Rifles Battalion in Imphal the same evening. Armed militants ransacked government offices, looted arms and ammunition, and fled after reinforcements from Assam Rifles and CRPF arrived.
The cases are being investigated under multiple charges, including UAPA, the Arms Act, and the Official Secrets Act. Additionally, the NIA is probing other cases involving bomb blasts, ethnic violence, targeted killings, and looting of weapons across Manipur. These incidents are seen as attempts to incite hatred, disrupt harmony, and endanger national security.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the NIA to take over the investigation amid the ongoing ethnic unrest in Manipur. The cases, re-registered at the NIA Police Station in Imphal, underscore the serious implications of the state’s escalating violence.
