Sarah Sharma Among 2 More Officers From Odisha To Join CBI Team Probing Manipur Violence

Bhubaneswar: Two more officers of Odisha police will join the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the ethnic violence in Manipur.

IPS officer Sarah Sharma and officer Santosh Kumar Barik, an Odisha police service (OPS) officer, were relieved on Thursday after being asked to leave for Manipur. Sharma, a 2010-batch officer, is currently serving as SP (Vigilance), Sambalpur.

Earlier this month, Biswa Prakash Rout, an inspector in Mayurbhanj district, was deputed to the CBI headquarters in Delhi to be part of the team probing the Manipur violence.

Besides the horrific incident of two women being paraded naked on May 4, the CBI is probing the murder of the two students, whose supposed death triggered fresh round of protests in the state.

Tensions flared up in Manipur after ban on mobile internet services was lifted on September 23, almost five months since a shutdown after sectarian violence erupted in the state on May 3, after photos of bodies of the two students, said to be from the Meitei community, and allegedly killed by suspected Kuki militants, surfaced on social media.

September 28 saw fresh rounds of clashes between protesters, who took to the streets against the kidnapping and killing of the two students, and security forces.

Following the fresh protests, mobile internet services were suspended again in Manipur till 7.45 pm on October 1, to stop “spread of disinformation, false rumours and other types of violent activities through various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter”.