Guwahati: Security agencies stepped up deployment across Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, following a late-night firing incident that heightened tensions in the sensitive region, officials confirmed.
Unidentified individuals opened fire near Torbung and Phougakchao Ikhai—areas close to the Churachandpur district border—at around 9 pm on Tuesday, December 16. Officials said multiple rounds were fired, though the incident did not result in any injuries.
Authorities said the situation in Bishnupur remains tense but under control, with no fresh firing reported since the incident. “We have reinforced security in the peripheral areas of the district as a precautionary measure. An investigation is ongoing, but no arrests have been made so far,” a senior official stated.
Torbung and Phougakchao Ikhai hold particular sensitivity, as they were among the first locations where ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted on May 3, 2023.
The renewed violence has triggered fresh displacement. Several residents—mainly women and children—who had recently returned to their homes near Phougakchao Ikhai after nearly two years were forced to flee again and seek shelter elsewhere following the gunfire, officials said.
The firing occurred just hours after Director General of Police Rajiv Singh visited Churachandpur district and convened a high-level meeting with senior officers. According to a police statement, the DGP chaired a comprehensive review to evaluate the prevailing security situation and assess preparedness across the region.