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.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station.
Nearly 100 students and resident doctors of the Government Medical College in Patiala in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday. A retirement party and New Year Eve's party held on the college campus without following appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is blamed for alarming spike in the cases.
