Sometime in 2010, three former cadres of the Manipur’s People’s Liberation Army were “recruited” by 3 Corps of the Indian Army based at Rangapahar near Dimapur (Nagaland), under its intelligence and surveillance unit that reports to its General Officer Commanding. The three had apparently been used by this “cloak and dagger” unit for activities that involved extortion, drug- and gun-running, all in the name of counter-insurgency operations under the cover of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Then, one day the same year, the Army picked these three up from a place at 7th Mile in Dimapur and took them to Rangapahar where they were allegedly subjected to third-degree methods and, after they were killed, the bodies were dumped in a nearby jungle in Assam’s Karbi Along district. Phijam Manikumar, the brother of one of the victims, Hijam Naobi, reported the matter to the Nagaland police in Dimapur. A few days later, the Assam police informed their Nagaland counterparts that three bulletriddled bodies had been recovered from a forest in Karbi Anglong. The Nagaland police, in turn, informed the authorities at 3 Corps headquarters, who retaliated that they were immune under the AF(SP)A. The matter soon reached Army Headquarters when one Major T Ravi Kiran, turned whistleblower and wrote to his superiors at both Eastern Command and Rangapahar stating how, one night, the three Manipuris were shot dead by the Intelligence unit behind their officers’ mess. In his letter, Major Kiran mentioned how Colonel Gopinath Shreekumar, Commanding Officer of the “rogue” unit, was behind the abduction and killing and was assisted by a Major Rubeena Kaur Kheer and a Manipuri officer by the name of Nector.
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