UNLF Chief Sanayaima to arrive in Manipur

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Imphal, Nov 27: United National Liberation Front (UNLF) supremo, Rajkumar Meghen alias Sanayaima, is expected to arrive in his hometown Manipur after a gap of 44 long years, sources said on Wednesday.

Meghen was whisked away to New Delhi by NIA officials on November 11 after he completed his ten year sentence in Guwahati Central Jail on November 10. The top rebel leader was accompanied by his legal counsel M. Gunedhor Singh and his son R. K. Chinglen.

“He is expected to arrive in Imphal international airport from New Delhi on Thursday afternoon,” a government official said.

It is not known why Meghen and his son and his legal counsel were whisked away to New Delhi after his released from jail.

A human rights activist had filed a case of arbitrary detention to Manipur Human Rights Commission and other national counterparts in this regard.

Meghen, a post-graduate on international relations, joined the UNLF a rebel group in 1967. The UNLF was raised in 1964 to fight for Manipur’s independence.

Meghen, who is the direct descendant of Manipur’s legendary hero Bir Tikendrajit who fought the British during the 1891 Anglo-British war and was hanged by them, was arrested in Bangladesh in September 2010, though Indian agencies showed him arrested in Motihari , Bihar in December 2010.

He was convicted to 10 years rigorous imprisonment in 2016, though the National Investigation Agency had appealed for life sentence.

17 other UNLF rebels were convicted to seven to ten years in jail in the same case.

During the sentence hearing, Meghen did not seek leniency but remain defiant, quoting from Fidel Castro to justify his fight .

” I am not fighting to secede from India, but to regain Manipur’s freedom that the British and then India snatched away,” he had told mediapersons outside the court .

NIA filed the case in 2010 against the accused persons including RK Meghen under sections 120 B, 121, 121 (A) and 122 of IPC.

The NIA chargesheet accused Meghen and other UNLF leaders of holding several meetings in China in 2009 to secure arms for his rebel group.