In Manipur, a Lt. Col has ‘highlighted’ fake encounters, pitting him against the force he loyally served for nearly 2 decades.
Imphal: In a nearly 20-year career, Lieutenant Colonel Dharamvir Singh had worked his way up from the lowest rungs of the Indian Army.
Along the way, the officer with the Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (CISU) from 3 Corps, served in the Special Forces and even fought in the Kargil War of 1999.
Now in his 40s, Singh is at the centre of a bizarre crisis which could have far-reaching consequences not just for himself personally but possibly even the Indian Army.
In Manipur’s Imphal Valley where he is posted, Singh is being hailed as a soldier with a conscience for what locals say is speaking up and exposing the dark deeds of his own comrades.
But for his own unit, he has become a villain: He was taken into custody and accused of insubordination, among other things. His current whereabouts are not known and some of his colleagues think he is “finished”.
An explosive affidavit
The Lt. Col had first created a stir in September last year when he had written to his superiors alleging that his intelligence unit from 3 Corps, headquartered in Rangapahar, near Dimapur in Nagaland, had been systematically executing Manipuri militants in “fake encounters” since 2010.
Though nothing had come off it back then, on the morning of 1 July, he was allegedly taken into custody by his own unit from his official quarters in ‘M’ Sector, Imphal.
He was accused of insubordination, not joining his post on time, and bringing his family into a field posting.
His wife, Ranju Singh, 35, who had just reached the Manipuri capital from Mumbai the previous day, raised an alarm, addressing a press conference on 3 July seeking to find her husband’s whereabouts.
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On 11 July, Singh reappeared and stepped up his actions against his unit, this time filing an affidavit in the Manipur High Court, repeating the accusations of “fake encounters” that he had listed in his September letter.
After he went missing again, his wife filed a habeas corpus petition in the Manipur High Court on 20 July.
A week later, the Lt. Col was produced in court. “I could see the pain in his eyes,” says Ranju Singh. “I was worried he was being tortured”.
There is little else that can be published of her or his account as the Manipur High Court has prevented the media from doing so.
“Since the case is pending before the court, we call upon the Lt. Col Dharambir Singh not to issue any statement in respect of the matter before the court directly or indirectly to the media,” reads the order of the Manipur High Court issued on 1 August.
“The press and media are directed not to publish photographs of officers involved in the case,” the order concludes.
Army under scanner
The Army has so far remained tight-lipped on the entire controversy. But the Manipur High Court has directed it to file its official reply in the matter on 17 August.
There is also no clarity on Singh’s current whereabouts.
His affidavit, however, has rattled the force. In it, he has detailed how three suspected militants were allegedly killed and at least two others taken hostage and allegedly murdered by his unit, the 3 CISU.
What is bound to worry New Delhi is that the cases he has highlighted are from the jurisdiction of the Army’s 3 Corps. The 3 Corps command the biggest terrain for an Indian Army formation — covering three international boundaries besides counter-insurgency work.
More significantly, it has thrown up successive army chiefs — General Bipin Rawat, the current chief, and his predecessor, General Dalbir Singh Suhag (retd), have commanded it.
‘The encounters that never were’
This is Renu Thakhelambam, president of a group called Extra Judicial Executions Victims’ Families (EEVFAM). Her husband, a suspected insurgent, was allegedly shot dead “within earshot” in 2007 by the Army. When Renu is not dealing with court cases, she practises privately as a “hair style and skin care” specialist. It was her organisation’s case that the SC took up this week and rapped the Centre and state over HR violations.
The 2010 citation in the Sena Medal for Captain Rubina Kaur Keer credits her for having penetrated a terrorist network and establishing a “dynamic intelligence network” to track insurgent movement and activities.
“Captain Rubina Kaur Keer through her perseverance, initiative, unrelenting efforts and in total disregard to personal safety, penetrated into the terrorist network in a highly insurgent-infested area thereby establishing a dynamic Intelligence network to track and monitor insurgent movement and activities,” reads the citation.
Capt Kaur had been recommended for the gallantry award by Colonel Srikumar, the then commanding officer, in June 2010.
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According to Colonel Srikumar, Capt Kaur’s “sustained” efforts had resulted in the killing of three wanted cadre of the banned Meitei insurgent outfit in Manipur, the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA). He added that the operation that killed the three — “R. K. Roshan, Thounajam Prem and T.H. Naobi Singh” — also led to the recovery of “large quantity arms, ammunition and warlike stores from 7 mile, Dimapur.”
This is not how it played out, according to Lt Colonel Singh, who has disputed the official version in his affidavit before the high court.
For one, the affidavit states, the colonel had even got the names of one of the victims wrong. R.K. Roshan, according to Singh, was, in fact, R.K. Ranel, and he and the other two were picked up from their homes in Dimapur, a few kilometres from the 3 Corps headquarters in Rangapahar.
They were allegedly brought to the corps headquarters and killed behind the unit officers’ mess. They were buried there before their bodies were taken to Karbi Anglong in Assam.
Two others, a student named Satish, and another as yet unidentified man, were picked up from Shillong and killed similarly, claims Dharamvir in his affidavit.
The same team also allegedly killed G. Jiteshwar, also known as “Gypsy”, who was assistant publicity secretary in the PLA in January 2011, asserts the Lt Colonel in the affidavit.
Gypsy’s elder brother, Setyeibrata, told ThePrint that with the affidavit, the courts should ensure justice. “Even if he was guerrilla, there is the Indian Constitution guarantees us human rights,” he said. “We did not know what had happened to him since he last sent an SMS (text message) saying he was arrested in Dimapur,” he recalls.
“We need closure,” he says.
Soldiers with a conscience
With his affidavit, Dharamvir Singh joins Thanajom Herojit and junior commissioned officer (JCO) Ramesh Chand Sharma in the ranks of security personnel who have turned against their own forces in the state.
In January 2016, Herojit, a head constable with the Manipur Police, confessed to having carried out extra-judicial killings, which he then went on to claim were rampant in the state.
Sharma, a naib subedar with the 30 Assam Rifles, walked into a newspaper office in Imphal in April this year and confessed that he was at Khukhrul Mills in West Imphal when five suspected militants were shot dead. “It was not an encounter. We took them there and shot them,” he alleged.
But Lt. Col Dharamvir Singh is the most high-profile among the three. It is rare for an Army officer, especially one from the Special Forces, to speak out against his own service.
And Dharamvir Singh is no ordinary officer. He was recruited as a jawan, made his way through the Army Cadet College (ACC) in Dehradun before being selected for the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
After his stint in the Special Forces, he was commissioned as an officer in the Intelligence Corps. He was posted to Nagaland two-and-a-half years ago.
‘Woh Khatam (he is finished)’
Inside Imphal’s “M Sector”, or military sector, where he was stationed, there are no easy answers as to why Lt Colonel Dharamvir Singh, “Veer” to friends, would seek to expose his men.
The “M Sector” has offices and living quarters for the Army. It is adjacent to the sprawling grounds of the Raj Bhavan, the governor’s house, in Imphal. It is also across the moat from the Kangla Fort, the erstwhile residence of Manipur royals.
In this highly militarised city, there are soldiers in various camouflage fatigues —khaki to olive green.
At M Sector that housed the Army, the security is the responsibility of the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force, officered by the army. On the premises, a temple contains a plaque, which notes Dharamvir Singh’s presence at the inaugural in 2016.
“This is a tough place. Outwardly, it is peaceful. The Manipuris, especially the Meiteis, are a calm people,” says an officer who lives and works out of M Sector. “But there are many connections that we cannot figure out,” he adds.
“Dharamvir had spent enough time here and had even picked up a smattering of the local language. He gave real-time intelligence,” the officer acknowledges.
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“Faltu mein hungama macha diya (He has raised futile claims),” said another officer who has worked alongside the Lt Colonel in M Sector, Imphal. “Woh khatam (he is finished)”.
According to this officer, Veer was angry that he was refused a posting of his choice — he allegedly wanted to go to Mumbai but his next posting was reportedly in Belgaum.
His wife too didn’t provide a reason for why he would take on his own unit. “For my husband, the Army is religion and we both respect our esteemed organisation and never dreamed we would go against the system,” she said at the press conference before the Manipur High Court bar on her speaking out.