Herojit says he will accept ‘penalty’ in Sanjit killing case

Newmai News Network IMPHAL, January 30 Manipur Police head constable Thounaojam Herojit Singh, who recently confessed to have killed Chungkham Sanjit Meitei in media, said he would welcome punishments against him from the people and the established law in the ‘fake encounter’ case. On Saturday, the suspended cop organised a press meet at the Press Club here after he recently revealed in a section of media that he shot dead Sanjit Meitei, a former PLA activist following order from his seniors. The alleged stage-managed encounter took place on BT Road here on July 23, 2009. In a media query Thounaojam Herojit admitted his guilt saying he had not been hiding in fear of the punishments from the public, government and police. “I’ll accept whatever infliction of the penalty as retribution for the crime I’ve committed. I welcome the pain,” Herojit declared. Earlier, there were reports that the cop disappeared from Imphal Airport after he boarded an Imphal-bound flight on January 27. His wife had said he could have been abducted by unidentified people from the airport. Herojit was suspended in connection with the Sanjit Killing case handled by the CBI and now on bail. He was apparently filled with remorse and shame while making an ardent appeal to both the state-actors and non-state actors to stop violence to ensure peace and harmony in Manipur.“I do not need security protection. I want to live my life without fear with the government, police, militants and the public,” he said. Manipur Home Minister Gaikhangam recently said that the government would consider providing security protection to Herojit. Several social organisations including the Apunba Lup besides Manipur BJP and other political parties have been demanding strict punishment to all culprits involved in the July 23 killing. Apunba Lup spearheaded a sustained agitation against the July 23 incident. Thokchom Rabina Devi, a pregnant woman was also killed under mysterious circumstances during the alleged fake encounter. The state BJP has demanded that Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh should resign accusing him of being a responsible leader in the Sanjit killing. The party has also demanded that Imphal West Superintendent Akoijam Jhalajit Singh should also be ket under suspension until the ruling of the case is announced. Herojit had claimed that the then Additional SP Akoijam Jhalajit Singh ordered him to shoot and kill Sanjit Meitei. The Manipur Police has been accused of killing the 22-year-old Sanjit Meitei in the fake encounter. Exposure by the Tehelka magazine with sequenced photographs of the incident sparked widespread agitation in the state against the Manipur government. Sanjit’s bereaved mother Ch Taratombi filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court seeking justice in her son’s killing which she said a fake encounter in her complaint. The case later handed to CBI in 2010.