Imphal: Tension escalated on Monday after occupants of two vehicles clashed near Shangkai village along the Imphal–Ukhrul Road (NH-202) in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, prompting police to register an FIR, reports said on Tuesday.
The dispute began when an ECO van carrying residents of Mongkot Chepu village (Kuki community) and a Maruti Alto carrying residents of Riha village (Tangkhul Naga) narrowly avoided a collision about 5 kilometres southwest of Litan Police Station. The situation escalated after the occupants allegedly exchanged communal slurs.
Reports said around 20 suspected Kuki militants later reached the spot and allegedly launched a coordinated attack, injuring several people and causing extensive damage to the vehicle.
The Superintendent of Police, Ukhrul, said the Officer-in-Charge of Litan Police Station received information about the incident around 3:30 pm. Police registered a suo motu FIR Case No. 6(3)2026 LTN-PS under Sections 117/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and began an investigation. Authorities have also deployed adequate security measures to prevent further violence.
Meanwhile, the Riha Village Authority (RVA), in a press statement, described the incident as a “brutal and unprovoked assault” on four residents of Riha village. The RVA said a minor vehicular misjudgment caused by sunlight reflection and a mechanical fault led to the incident, adding that the driver had apologised in good faith.
The RVA stated that the attack was “not merely an act of violence against individuals but a direct challenge to peaceful coexistence, the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of our people.”
The authority urged the concerned officials to take immediate and decisive action to prevent such incidents from recurring and asserted that it would accept “no compromise whatsoever” until justice is delivered and the safety and dignity of its people are ensured.
The incident follows a clash that broke out on February 7 at Litan Sareikhong in Ukhrul district, during which armed individuals allegedly assaulted a Tangkhul Naga man identified as Sterling. Authorities later shifted him to a hospital in Imphal for treatment. During the earlier unrest, miscreants reportedly destroyed more than 50 houses in arson attacks.