New Delhi: After months of relative calm in the state marred by ethnic clashes, suspected Kuki militants abducted and killed a Meitei man Wednesday evening in Manipur’s Churachandpur district when he went to visit his fiancée from the Kuki community.
Mayanglambam Rishikanta Singh had come to see his fiancée Chingnu Haokip, after she sought permission from the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and local authorities in the Tuibong block of Churachandpur, officials confirmed.
A chilling video has emerged in which Singh is seen kneeling down with folded hands, prompting the Churachandpur police to register a suo motu FIR under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other relevant charges.
Singh’s cousin, Amarjit Mayanglambam, told ThePrint that the couple was engaged in February 2023 and their marriage was planned for May that year, before the state was rocked by ethnic violence. “Rishikanta has been working in Nepal for nearly six years since 2020, and the family was not aware that he had gone to Churachandpur to meet his fiancée. The family got to know about his brutal death through the video that appeared online,” Amarjit told ThePrint over a call.
Reacting to the killing, a Meiti Heritage Welfare Foundation spokesperson said in a statement, “This incident is not an isolated crime. The abduction-and-execution method is a signature mode of terror employed by Chin-Kuki militant groups since the ethnic cleansing violence unleashed against the indigenous Meitei population on May 3, 2023, beginning with the afternoon attacks in Torbung, Churachandpur.”
“Ironically, this comes amidst assurances by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Manipur Government of improving the law and order situation in the state, since the implementation of President’s Rule in February 2025. The MHS holds both the State Government of Manipur and the Central Government accountable for this complete collapse of law and order. This shameful failure cannot be allowed to continue unaccounted,” the spokesperson said.
Lying on the south-western part of Manipur, Churachandpur is one of the epicentre of the Kuki-Meitei ethnic strife that began in May, 2023. The district is a Kuki stronghold. For more than two years, there has been almost nil movement of one ethnic group into the areas held by the other.
Singh worked in Nepal and had come on leave to see his fiancée, the officials said.
The couple, they said, was abducted around 6.30 p.m. Wednesday by armed militants before they were taken to the Natjang area under the Henglep police station circle. Singh was shot dead on camera, while the fiancée was let off by the armed militants, they added.
“On 21.01.2026 at around 10:30 PM, CCP Police received information that Mayanglambam Rishikanta was abducted by unknown miscreants from the Tuibuong area last night and killed at T.Natjang village,” a Manipur Police officer told ThePrint.
“The body was retrieved from the area and has been kept at the district morgue. Churachandpur PS has taken a suo motu FIR in this connection. Efforts are on to nab the miscreants.”
Meanwhile, the KNO has denied knowing about Singh’s visit to Churachandpur and involvement in the crime.
“It is hereby categorically clarified that neither did the organisation have any knowledge of the visit of the deceased (Mayanglambam, h/o Chingnu Haokip) nor was it involved in the incident,” the KNO said in a statement to the media released Thursday.
“The organisation further clarifies that under no circumstance is any spouse of our people from any other community ever subjected to such activity.”
The KNO is an umbrella body of Kuki insurgent outfits and is presently under a Suspension of Operation (SoO) signed with the Centre.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Tony Rai)