A 22-year-old died during a “confrontation” between protesters and special police commandos in Jiribam on Sunday night, prompting a nearly 18-hour gherao by crowds that demanded the commanding officer be handed over to them.

A resident said protesters seeking action against the killers of six Meitei relief camp inmates had got into an altercation with the special commando team, led by senior superintendent Nectar Sanjenbam.

Nectar allegedly fired to break up the crowd, and two protesters suffered bullet injuries. Khundrakpam Athouba Ningthouja, a degree student, died on the spot while the other was rushed to a hospital in Silchar, Assam, where he is said to be stable.

The BJP-led state government has formed a two-member inquiry committee that has to report its findings within 30 days.

After the firing, crowds surrounded the PWD guesthouse, where Nectar was staying with his team, from 11pm on Sunday demanding that he be handed over to them.

The gherao continued till 4.30pm on Monday, with a protester claiming the police had surreptitiously “evacuated him (Nectar) to a nearby camp of a central force forhis safety”.

By then, the administration was engaging with the protesters to try and calm things down. The inquiry announced by the home department on Monday evening was part of that effort, sources said.

Two senior police officers will conduct the probe, which will look into the circumstances leading to the incident, the factors that contributed to the firing, and whether there was foul play.

Nectar is a former army officer and was appointed senior superintendent of police (combat) so that the commandos could gain from his expertise in their efforts to contain the continuing ethnic violence. Both Nectar and the slain youth are Meiteis.

A protester in Jiribam told The Telegraph that he and others were demanding financial compensation for the families of the dead and the injured youth, a job for the family of the dead, and punishment for the police officer “as per law”.

The Jiribam standoff fuelled tensions in Imphal city, with protesters gathering before Nectar’s home. No violence was reported.

Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh on Monday night held a meeting of ruling NDA MLAs on the prevailing situation. The resolution stated that the Centre would be urged to review the widening of the Afspa net in the state on November 14, "start mass operations against the Kuki militants responsible for the killing of six innocent women and children" in Jiribam on November 11 and demand that the case be handed over to the NIA, among other things.

On Monday, a mob locked up the chief electoral office in Imphal seeking action against the killers of the six Jiribam relief camp inmates.

Voicing the same demand, crowds had on Sunday night vandalised the Congress and BJP offices in Jiribam.

The state government has extended the suspension of Internet services for two more days in seven districts.

Jiribam has been witnessing protests since news broke on Tuesday about the kidnapping of six Meitei relief camp inmates by suspectedKuki-Zo militants.

The six were abducted on November 11, when a group of suspected Kuki-Zo militants attacked a police station that housed the relief camp and a nearby CRPF post in Borobekra, Jiribam. Ten of the attackers were killed.

Kuki-Zo organisations claim the alleged militants were actually village volunteers.

The bodies of all the six missing camp inmates have been recovered, the last of them on Monday from the River Barak in Assam’s Cachar district, which borders Jiribam.

Kuki-Zo rally

A platform of Manipur’s Kuki organisations said a “coffin rally” would be held on Tuesday at Churachandpur to pay tribute to the 10 Kuki-Zo youths killed in an alleged gunfight with the CRPF in Jiribam, PTI reported.

In a “joint public notice” on Monday, the Zomi Students’ Federation, Kuki Students’ Organisation and Hmar Students’ Association directed schools and colleges to send pupils from Class X onwards to participate in the event wearing black shirts, the agency report added.

One of the organisers told PTI they would carry 10 dummy coffins.