The Bomb Disposal Squad of the CID (Tech) on Sunday uncovered the tail end or fins and fuse materials of aerial bombs dropped from drones at Koutruk Ching Leikai Church under Lamshang Police Station in Imphal West, invalidating the claims made by former Assam Rifles DG Lt Gen PC Nair and Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi that no drone bombings were carried out by Kuki militants.
PC Nair had denied reports about use of drones for aerial bombing and long-range rocket missiles by Kuki militants in the ongoing crisis in Manipur.
He categorically denied claims that drones were being used to drop ammunition in the state, stating that reports of such activities are based on misinformation and false narratives.
General Upendra Dwivedi had also stated that reports of drone bombings and entry of 900 Kuki militants are false narratives.
The officer in charge of Lamshang Police Station alerted the discovery of suspicious objects near Koutruk Ching Leikai Church on Sunday morning, requesting to send a team of bomb disposal squad at the site.
The team arrived at the area before noon and found the tail ends of aerial bombs sticking out from the ground. The tail unit consisted of a ring used for hanging the bomb from drones.
Further inspection of the surrounding areas also led to finding of several fuse materials of the bomb which had exploded.
As per the findings, the bombs carried no primer and propelling charges which are necessary if they were meant to be fired or launched. However, the bombs had only fins or tail ends with rings, strongly indicating that they were dropped from air. It is also suspected that the bombs may be locally made.
The tail unit and fuse materials were put in a seizure list and put under the custody of Lamshang Police Station.
These new findings will discredit any claims in the future that no drone bombings were carried out by Kuki militants on Meitei villages.
Earlier in September, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the investigation into the drone attacks in Imphal West district, Manipur where a woman was killed while several others were injured.
The NIA had requested the Manipur police department to hand over all relevant documents and evidence related to the case. The NIA took up the case in response to the state government’s handling of the case to find an in-depth investigation into the case on the involvement of alleged armed miscreants.
As the case has been taken up, the NIA also filed an application before the Special Court of NIA to direct the Manipur police department to hand over the related documents, case diaries and seized materials under different sections of law.
Besides drones, attacks on civilian areas escalated with Kuki terrorists firing a rocket at Moirang Mairembam Leikai in Bishnupur district, resulting in the death of one man and injuries to five others.
The rocket exploded at the premises of former chief minister of Manipur Mairembam Koireng. Kuki terrorists also fired rockets at Tronglaobi Makha Leikai under Moirang Police Station in Bishnupur district.
In the aftermath of the deadly attacks, the state government had constituted a five-members high level committee that will probe into the attack.