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| File picture of students leaving the university hostel following the murder of the professor |
Imphal, Jun 2 : India Reserve Battalion rifleman Kangjam Dimajit, who surrendered to police in connection with the killing of Manipur University proctor and economics professor Md Islamuddin, was remanded in police custody for seven days from today.
The police today produced the accused in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Imphal, K. Padmeshore, who is also the duty magistrate after the police arrested him formally yesterday.
Dimajit Singh, 30, is a rifleman of the 3rd India Reserve Battalion and he surrendered before Singjamei police station in Imphal West on May 28 after the police started looking for him in connection with the murder case.
The police sources said before his formal arrest yesterday, Dimajit was interrogated at the joint interrogation cell of the police, Assam Rifles and the army.
The police started looking for the rifleman following interrogation of the 13 people, mostly students, already arrested in connection with the case. They are still in police custody.
Dimajit has been booked under various sections of the IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.
The police said investigation into the murder case was making good progress, though details of the involvement of the rifleman are not disclosed.
Three or four assailants shot dead Islamuddin near the library building of the Manipur University on May 25 and the militant Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) claimed responsibility for the killing.
The outfit charged the slain professor with “committing wrongs” in the recent student union election of the university. The arrest of the students sparked protests from student bodies.
The Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur had threatened to impose a 120-hour (five-day) statewide bandh if the police failed to release the students without any condition by today.
The senior superintendent of police, L. Kailun, had clarified that the 13 were not arrested as students but for having “nexus” with militants and warned against calling bandhs and strikes over the arrest of these 13 people.