Hand grenade with note found at gate of GP College in Imphal near Raj Bhavan

New Delhi:

A hand grenade was found today at the gate of a university, less than 200 meters away from the governor’s official residence in the heart of Manipur’s capital Imphal.

Police said some people spotted the grenade at the gate of Ghanapriya Women’s College at 6am following which a police team went to the spot to check. A bomb disposal team arrived and defused the grenade, whose pin appeared to be a booby trap, sources said.

The grenade was placed on a note on which was written: “Down with the fascist education system, honor the rights of the free educational movement of proletarian students, glory to the proletarian students.”

A case has been filed at Imphal police station. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

Sources said they suspect that the hand grenade may have been an extortion threat to the management of GP College.

Extortion threat

There have been numerous extortion threats from groups of armed people in Manipur in recent times, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, sources said. the police and security forces were busy maintaining peace.

Many shop owners in Imphal have complained of being forced to pay by armed people, despite businesses going bankrupt as there has been no economic activity for more than a year since violence began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, which are dominant. in the hill areas of southern Manipur, bordering Myanmar and some areas in the north.

“If you ask anyone in Imphal, they will say the same thing: extortion and theft have increased. All businesses are dead. Where will the money come from? People are stealing cooking gas cylinders, water pumps, anything they can get their hands on.” more than Rs 2,500 in the black market,” an Imphal resident told NDTV, requesting anonymity.

‘Requests’ to pay

A shopkeeper at Paona Bazaar in Imphal city told NDTV that they are unable to meet the frequent ‘requests’ to pay by random armed people.

“They just come in. Today it’s one group, tomorrow it’s another group. We tell them there is no money, nothing to sell. All the shelves are empty. We haven’t celebrated a single festival since May 2023. There won’t be any goods like all highways The highway extortion of truck drivers makes everything that comes here unaffordable for both us and the buyers,” said the shopkeeper, who requested anonymity for fear of damage “How long are we going to bear this burden? This is an endless nightmare.”

READ | The illegal highway tax in Manipur keeps consumer items out of reach of people

Out of 39 terrorists organizations prohibited by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), eights its Meitei outfits from Manipur.

The only Meitei group that has agreed to talks is the United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P). This outfit – one of the two factions of Meitei’s oldest armed group – is now above ground after signing a tripartite peace deal with the Center and the state government in November 2023.

The rise in extortion cases in Manipur comes after almost a decade of relative peace and tranquility. Startups and entrepreneurship in Manipur had been growing rapidly, boosted by central and state support policies, until ethnic violence put the brakes on all economic activities.