Manipur police have arrested at least eight cadres of the Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group) — a proscribed militant outfit — from Kakching district in connection with the recent killing of two migrant workers from Bihar.

In a statement on Monday night, Manipur police said search operations were launched across the state on December 14 to apprehend those involved in the killing of the labourers. An active member of the banned outfit was first apprehended from Kakching Lamkhai on Monday, the statement added.

Based on his inputs, a police team raided a camp located at the Kakching Mamang Ching Laipham Loknung and arrested seven more cadres of KCP (PWG), it said.

The arrested persons have been identified as Irengbam Rameshwar Singh, 48, Elangabm Herojit Singh, 40, Heikrujam Prem, 28, Okram Arundatta, 30, Senjam Rebingson, 27, Okram Amarjit, 31, Aribam Ghanendrajit Sharma, 25, and Chongtham Rajkumar, 26.

Three pistols, a sniper rifle, two double-barrel guns, two single-barrel guns and three grenades were recovered from the KCP camp along with live ammunition, 10 mobile sets and a two-wheeler, the police said.

Sunalal Kumar, 18, and Dashrath Kumar, 17, residents of Gopalganj district in Bihar, were shot dead on Saturday evening. They used to live in a rented accommodation in Kakching.

The officer in charge of Kakching police station had on Saturday registered a suo motu FIR, which stated that two non-locals returning from Wabagai on bicycles after work were "shot by unknown armed miscreants at Keirak Makha Leikai on the Indo Burma Sugnu Road”.

Chief minister N. Biren Singh had in his address at the Vijay Diwas event in Imphal touched upon the killing of the two workers, suggesting that “some people are attempting to convey the message that non-Manipuris are not safe in Manipur”.

On Sunday night, Singh had in a post on X said that “we cannot ignore the possibility that this horrific crime is part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize our state and push it further towards chaos".

Singh announced ₹10 lakh ex gratia for each bereaved family and said the case would be transferred to the National Investigation Agency if required.

'Misinformation' claim

In his Vijay Diwas address, Singh had also said that "some agencies" were "disseminating misinformation" to the Centre about the ongoing crisis in the state, creating confusion among central leaders and resulting in "delays" in taking action to resolve the conflict.

He said certain agencies with vested interests were attempting to “destabilise” the government because it was “not aligned” in their favour. Elected representatives are being threatened psychologically, he said.

He did not name the agencies or the representatives who were being threatened.

The turmoil in Manipur, which began on May 3 last year, has left at least 261 dead and over 60,000 displaced.