Manipur reported 80 cases of extortion in the nearly four-month period from November 1, 2024 to February 23, 2025, data posted on X by the state police shows. The violence-hit state bordering Myanmar also reported 22 drugs and 12 arms cases during the same period.
These cases are only those which the police shared on their official X handle. There may be other routine cases which the police have not announced on social media.
Police sources told NDTV strict checks on the streets and better reporting of cases in the valley areas reflect in the data, while police presence in the hills was disrupted due to the deep ethnic divide.
An analysis of posts on X (table at the end) by the Manipur Police’s official handle found the Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group), or KCP (PWG), was involved in the highest number of extortion and other cases.
The KCP (PWG) is allegedly being used as “hired guns” to attack civilians and carry out extortion in the valley areas in order to keep tension simmering, state intelligence sources had told NDTV based on initial investigation on December 16, 2024, after two migrant labourers were shot dead in Kakching, 45 km from the state capital Imphal. Civil society groups had condemned the killings and the state government announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for each family, respectively.
Sources had declined to say who hired these insurgents to create terror in the valley areas, citing the investigation was at an early stage.
The People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Progressive), or PREPAK (PRO), is second on the list of groups involved in most cases, the police data shows.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) come third with their involvement in eight cases of extortion and other crimes in the nearly four-month period, the data shows.
The nature of crimes included in the data is as follows: extortion, drugs, arms, cash recovery, kidnapping, arson, infiltration, and targeted killing.
Local petty incidents were excluded from the data, since the attempt was to find serious cases that can be linked to the situation in Manipur. The state government’s drive against illegal opium poppy cultivation was also excluded since it involved announcements only on razing cultivation.
The fields marked ‘NA’ are where the police have not mentioned the nature of the crime, or the group involved.
On who or which agency arrested the accused, ‘Manipur Police’ or ‘security forces’ are mentioned according to what was originally posted by the state police.
After extortion (80 cases), the most reported crime is drug smuggling (22 cases), followed by keeping or smuggling illegal and looted weapons (12 cases), and kidnapping (9 cases) in less than four months.
In the nearly four-month period since November 1, 2024, the police have posted details of 131 cases linked to the list of crimes mentioned above. Of these, the police did not mention the nature of the crime in 11 cases, and the group(s) involved in 27 cases, if applicable.
PREPAK is fourth on the list with five cases of extortion and other crimes, followed by KCP (Noyon) and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) with four cases each, data shows.
The United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF (P), Arambai Tenggol, KCP (City Meitei), KCP (Taibanganba), KCP (MFL), and UNLF (Koireng) are involved in three cases each, the police data shows.
The United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK), the National Revolutionary Front of Manipur (NRFM), and the Socialist Revolution Party Kangleipak (SOREPA) are involved in two cases each.
The United Kuki Revolutionary Army (UKRA), Volunteers Welfare, KCP (MC Progressive), KCP (MC), KCP (KK Nganba), Kuni National Army (KNA), KCP (Ibungo Ngangom), KCP (Apunba), United Kuki National Army (UKNA), and UNLF (Ningon Macha Group) are involved in one case each.
After extortion, drugs, and arms, the next most reported crime is kidnapping. The police reported nine kidnapping cases during the nearly four-month period.
Two cases of cash recovery, and one each of arson, infiltration, and targeted killing were reported.
Banned Meitei insurgent groups such as PLA, KYKL and KCP that had become nearly extinct in Manipur for the last 10 years returned from Myanmar after May 2023 and due to the junta’s diminishing hold in areas where the few remaining insurgents camped.
President’s Rule, Firearms Recoveries
The Manipur Police’s X handle, which had a few hundred followers in May 2023, has the ‘verified’ blue tick and over 24,000 followers today.
There has been a rise in the number of posts on X by the police on arrests and firearms recoveries after the imposition of President’s rule on February 13.
Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s seven-day deadline for people of all communities to surrender looted and illegally held firearms will end on Thursday.
The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.
Source: Manipur Police on X
