Imphal: Tension mounted in Manipur's capital here today following a media report which claimed that the gunbattle in which one person was killed by police on July 23 at a busy marketplace just 500 metres away from the state's assembly was a "fake encounter".
In its latest report, New Delhi-based 'Tehelka' weekly claimed that the deceased identified as Chungkham Sanjit, a former militant, was gunned down without any provocation. The magazine also published photographs of the incident.
Manipur Police claimed that Sanjit was chased and killed in retaliatory fire.
Scores of residents of Khurai, Sanjit's locality, poured out onto the streets in the morning, erecting barricades, shouting slogans and demanding punitive action against errant policemen. Police personnel lobbed tear gas canisters and used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators.
Security measures were also stepped up in several key areas of the capital city.