Manipur students intensify stir

The students' bodies also asked counsellors of all Karnataka-based educational institutions' to leave Manipur within 24 hours counting from Thursday morning.

Imphal: Stepping up their agitation, six students bodies of Manipur have imposed a ban on goods produced in Karnataka in the northeastern Indian state.

The students' bodies also asked counsellors of all Karnataka-based educational institutions' to leave Manipur within 24 hours counting from Thursday morning.

The students are demanding CBI probes into the deaths of two Manipuri youths — Richard Loitam and Okram Laba — in suspicious circumstances in Karnataka.

Loitam, a resident of Uripok Yambem Leikai here, was found dead in his hostel at Acharya NRV School of Architecture in Bangalore on April 18 after senior students had allegedly thrashed him the previous night.

The student bodies have demanded that a ministerial team of Manipur be sent to Karnataka to pressurize the government there to ensure justice in the case.

The student leaders, belonging to All Manipur Students' Union (Amsu), Manipuri Students' Federation (MSF), Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (Desam), Kangleipak Students' Association (KSA), Swak and Suk, said the ban would be lifted only when the case is handed over to the CBI.

The agitating student bodies burnt effigies of chief ministers and home ministers of Karnataka and Manipur and picketed political party offices in Imphal in the past few days to register their protest.

Besides Richard, they are also demanding justice in the mysterious death case of another Manipur student, Okram Laaba, in Chennai last year.

A BCA student of Hindustan College of Arts and Science, Kelambakkam, Chennai, Laaba was found dead in his hostel room on June 23 last year.

Meanwhile, the regional Manipur People's Party Wednesday sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to institute a CBI probe into Richard's death "to avoid more trouble".