Imphal, Jan 10 : The leaders of the All Manipur Students’ Union (Amsu), who had gone into hiding after a police crackdown, surfaced today to find their head-office broken into.
The publicity secretary of the student union, L. Ranendra Singh, said Rs 58,500, two computers, a television and some documents had been stolen.
The student leader said they suspected some individuals were behind the break-in and were planning to “investigate the matter and expose the culprits”.
The union is yet to lodge a complaint with the police but said a formal complaint would be lodged soon.
The leaders of Amsu, the oldest student organisation in Manipur, went into hiding after the class boycott campaign launched by Amsu, Manipuri Students Federation and Kangleipak Students Association from September 9.
The three organisations launched the campaign in support of the Apunba Lup’s demands in connection with the July 23 firing in which passerby Rabina Devi and former militant Ch. Sanjit were killed in an alleged fake encounter.
The Amsu leaders came overground this morning after the Apunba Lup and the three student organisations brokered a peace deal with the Okram Ibobi Singh government yesterday, leading to the suspension of the class boycott campaign from Monday.
There was no report of a similar break-in in the offices of the other two student organisations.
The Amsu office is located inside the joint campus of the Dhanamanjuri Colleges of Arts, Commerce and Sciences here.
The main entrance to the office building is shuttered. The culprits climbed the northern wall, which has a big gap between a door and the ceiling, to steal the items.
The publicity secretary said three iron almirahs kept in the offices of the president James Bond Mangang, general secretary Md Alimbir and finance secretary Kh. Kirankanta were broken into and the cash stolen.
Some receipt books and letterheads kept inside the almirah in the finance secretary’s room were also stolen. The library was ransacked.
“We went into hiding as the police were after us for launching the class boycott campaign. Though we did not come here during our hiding period we sent our volunteers to collect documents on December 28. Till that day nothing was missing. The break-in obviously was committed between December 28 and January 8,” the publicity secretary said.