Dimapur Police file interim chargesheet in Pimla murder case

DIMAPUR — Dimapur Police have filed an interim chargesheet in connection with the murder of 31-year-old Kesuthlungle Newme, who was found brutally killed near NSCN (IM) Martyrs Park at Pimla village on April 7.

An update issued on Monday stated that the accused (unnamed), arrested on April 10, has been found prima facie liable under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

According to police, the murder was committed in a fit of rage while the accused was under the influence of alcohol. A supplementary chargesheet will be filed once the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report is received from an out-of-state facility, as Nagaland does not yet have an in-house DNA division, it stated.

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Meanwhile, under the Victim Compensation Scheme, the Peren District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has initiated relief measures for the minor child of the deceased, it added.

The incident

It also provided a brief rundown of the case. On the evening of April 7, around 7.52 pm, Chümoukedima police received information about a suspected murder near a pond at Pimla, about 240 feet from Maikham road.

A police team led by the ACP Chümoukedima, along with personnel from the Women Police Station and forensic experts, rushed to the spot. The body of Kesuthlungle Newme, wife of Chubatemsu of Mhaikam village, was recovered and later shifted to District Hospital Dimapur for post-mortem.

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The following day, an FIR was lodged by Teusing Newme, VDB secretary of Mhaikam village, reporting that she had been murdered by unidentified miscreants. A case (Women PS Case No. 006/25) was registered, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by an ADCP was constituted.

Investigators established that the victim, a daily wage earner engaged in selling vegetables including bananas, had gone to the vicinity of NSCN (IM) Martyrs Park between 10.30 and 11 am on April 7 to purchase bananas.

Later that evening, around 7 pm, her body was discovered near a river pond in a “brutally murdered condition.”

Police said that multiple visits to the crime scene and suspected locations led to the recovery of key evidence, which established the accused’s culpability.