CBI Director Praveen Sood reached Imphal on Monday to take stock of the investigations related to the Manipur ethnic violence, officials said.

The agency had taken over 27 cases of violence that were earlier probed by the state police, they said and added that the violence has claimed over 175 lives and left thousands displaced since May.

Sood, who is the first chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to have visited almost all units of the agency within months of taking charge in May, landed at the Imphal airport from Guwahati around 5 pm. He was received by state Director General of Police Rajiv Singh, the officials said.

Sood held discussions with Singh on the present situation in the state, they said.

The ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 after a "Tribal Solidarity March" was organised in the hill districts of the state to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute little more than 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.

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