Imphal, Feb 22, 2025, IANS

Imphal, Feb 22 (IANS) A day after the Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Thursday urged the people to deposit the looted arms and ammunition to the government within seven days, a man in Kakching district on Friday returned many looted arms and ammunition, officials said. A senior police official said that responding to the appeal of the Governor, a man returned a large cache of arms and ammunition to the Kakching District Superintendent of Police Thokchom Vikramjit Singh. The returned arms and ammunition include one .303 Rifle with one magazine, thirteen .303 ammunition, four bulletproof vests, five bulletproof plates, and four helmets of security forces. The police hope that more arms and ammunition are likely to be returned in the coming days. The Manipur Governor on Thursday urged the people to deposit the looted arms and ammunition to the government within seven days otherwise "strict action would be taken for possession of such weapons". The Governor, in an appeal, had said that the government is deeply concerned about the illegal circulation of arms and ammunition that were either looted or unlawfully taken from various places, including state armouries. "These weapons pose a serious threat to the safety and security of the society." The Governor's appeal to give up the looted arms and ammunition came eight days after President Droupadi Murmu promulgated the President's Rule in the state and put the state Assembly under suspended animation on February 13 following his recommendation. He said that the people of Manipur, both in the valley and hills, have suffered immense hardship for the last 20 months due to a series of unfortunate incidents affecting peace and communal harmony. Various reports suggested that during the ethnic riots, which broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, more than 6,000 different types of sophisticated arms and lakhs of pieces of different types of ammunition were looted from the police stations and police outposts by the mobs and militants. The security forces, so far, have recovered a substantial number of the looted arms. Army, Assam Rifles, various Central Armed Police Forces, and the Manipur police regularly conduct search operations in various districts to recover the looted arms and ammunition. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, the state Home Department, and other authorities have earlier on several occasions urged the people to deposit the looted arms and ammunition, but the response was very poor. Former Union Home Secretary Bhalla took oath as Manipur Governor on January 3 and visited some trouble-torn districts and held discussions with community leaders, representatives of civil society organisations, and officials of the various district administrations as part of his efforts to restore peace in the state. He also held a series of meetings with top Army, paramilitary, police officials, and politicians in Imphal to assess the situation. On Friday, the Governor held a meeting with Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera, Director General, Assam Rifles, at Raj Bhavan. The Director General briefed the Governor on the operational and deployment activities of Assam Rifles in the region, a Raj Bhavan official said.