Myanmar border killings: No headway in murder cases of 2 Indian traders

Ten days after the mutilated bodies of traders Daljeet Singh Pradhan (36) of Vikhroli and Satvender Singh (32) of Uttar Pradesh were found near the Indo-Myanmar border, there has been no headway in the investigations.

midday's March 5 report on the killings. Daljeet Pradhan's kin have claimed he and Satvender Singh must have wandered into "militant" areas in Myanmar, been mistaken for spies and been tortured to death

The Molcham police station in Chandel district of Manipur, which is hardly three kilometres from the Indo-Myanmar border, has failed to collect the post-mortem report citing the cause of death. In fact, the police have not even questioned the four men who had accompanied Daljeet and Satvender to Myanmar on February 11.

Investigating Police Inspector Tongksolun Kuki confirmed that they have not collected the post-mortem report, as the police station is almost 200 kilometres from the JNIMS Hospital in Imphal where the autopsy was performed.

Also, they have not been able to question any of the four men who had accompanied the victims to Myanmar, as they had assured to return after a week after attending the last rituals.

"The chief of Jangnomphai village near the border had informed the Assam Rifles patrolling team about the dead bodies, and the army in turn informed us. The locals have been uncooperative so far and we could not make any headway," said Kuki.

Dr L Fimate, head of the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at JNIMS, told mid-day that they have concluded that reason of death in both cases as ‘death due to head injury (unnatural)', since the duo was assaulted on the head with a blunt object.

Asked if he and his team visited the scene of crime, he replied in the negative. Meanwhile, the families of both Daljeet and Satvender arranged last-rites ceremonies in their respective hometowns to mark the thirteenth day since their demise.