Police re-arrested CPI State secretary L. Sotinkumar, on Saturday shortly after he was released on bail by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal west.
The Imphal west District Magistrate has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Cr.PC. in the entire district with effect from Saturday night.
Trouble has been brewing in and around Imphal as several sections are demanding the scrapping of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019. However, a joint organisation of activists is keeping the anti-CAA campaign low key after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had assured the delegates that the new Act shall no hurt any section.
Mr. Sotinkumar and leaders of three other Left parties called a 12-hour general strike in Manipur on December 19 despite a police warning. He was arrested the next day but was released on bail on December 21 after furnishing a bail bond of ₹80,000.
CPI sources said that police whisked away Mr. Sotinkumar from the court complex, saying that SP Imphal west K. Meghachandra wanted to talk with him. But he was not released, the sources added.
Police pickets were deployed in all trouble prone areas to thwart any kind of processions. Police are also dispersing the processions organised by the “like-minded” people in and around Imphal city as a part of the campaign of the North East Students’ Organisation.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Biren, also in charge of Home, said that a few thousands of suspected outsiders without proper identity papers were not allowed to enter Manipur. Police have stepped up patrolling in the areas bordering Myanmar, Assam and Mizoram to check infiltration
