Mob sets Central minister's house on fire in Imphal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Jun, 2023 01:08 PM
Imphal, June 16 (IANS) Violating curfew, a mob vandalised and set ablaze Union Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh's house in Imphal town of Manipur, officials said on Friday.
According to police officials, a mob of 200 men and women attacked the Central Minister's residence late Thursday night. Singh, who is also the Minister of state for Education, is currently in Delhi.
Though a portion of the minister's house got burnt, the security guards and firefighters managed to control the arson and saved most parts of the minister's house from being burnt down.
The incident took place after the burning of two more houses belonging to locals and clashes between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur and a mob in the heart of Imphal town the same afternoon.
The mob which roamed the capital city also clashed with security forces in different places.
Singh's house was also targetted on May 25 when thousands of people attempted to assemble in front of the residence of the Central Minister in Imphal but the security forces prevented them from doing so.
Police said the mob, comprising men and women, demanded an early solution to the ethnic conflict between Meitei and Kuki communities.
The mob accused all the ministers and MLAs that they are not doing enough to end the Manipur crisis.
On Wednesday, assailants burnt the official residence of Manipur's Industry Minister Nemcha Kipgen in the Lamphel area in Imphal West district.
The officials said that Kipgen, the lone woman minister in Manipur, was not at home when the attackers burnt down her official bungalow.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.
With this the two-and-half year old, three-party Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government experiment has collapsed, barely hours after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari ordered a floor test late on Tuesday night.
In a daze the victim handed over her gold locket and a pair of golden tops to the accused. When she regained her senses she called the police. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case under sections 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
In regulatory filing, Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of the Reliance group, said the Board of Directors at its meeting held on Monday "approved the appointment of Akash Ambani, Non-executive Director, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company".
