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The CBI charge sheet said Manipur Police personnel allegedly took two women from the Kuki-Zomi community, who were taking shelter in their official gypsy, to a mob of about 1,000 Meitei rioters in Kangpokpi district.
The charge sheet says the two women were stripped naked and paraded before being brutally gang-raped during caste violence in the state.
The charge sheet said the mob had also attacked a third woman from the same family and tried to disrobe her but failed as she held her granddaughter tightly. She managed to escape after the group attacking her moved towards the first two victims, who were being tortured in the paddy fields.
The charge sheet alleges that the three victims had sought help from the police personnel present at the spot, but no help was given to them.
The women, one of whom was the wife of a Kargil war veteran, asked the police personnel to take them to a safe place, but they reportedly told them that there were no keys (of the vehicle) and did not provide any keys . Help, the charge sheet said.
Nearly two months after the May 4 incident, a video showing two women parading naked surrounded by a crowd of men had gone viral in July last year.
The CBI had filed the charge sheet against six accused and a report against one child in conflict with law (CCL) before the Special Judge, CBI Court in Guwahati on October 16 last year.
It is alleged that both the women were running away from a crowd of about 900-1,000 people carrying sophisticated weapons like AK rifle, SLR, INSAS and .303 rifle. It said the mob vandalized and burnt all the houses in his village B Phenom in Kangpokpi district, about 68 km south of Saikul police station.
The three women were part of a group of 10 people who fled into the Haokhongching forest to hide from the mob. The women, along with other victims, ran into the forest to escape the mob, but were spotted by rioters, who separated the victims.
One group took two men and two women, the other took the third victim along with his granddaughter while the third group took the village head, another man and his two daughters.
Of the two victims, who were gang-raped and paraded naked, one was not in good health and had to be carried on the backs of male family members to Chakhama village.
The crowd on the way increased as rioters from other villages joined the group and all started beating the victims.
Officials having knowledge of the matter said that some members of the crowd asked the women to approach the police vehicle parked on the roadside to seek help.
Both the women managed to get inside the vehicle, in which two police personnel and the driver were seated. There were three-four personnel outside the vehicle.
One of the victims, who managed to get inside the vehicle, kept pleading with the driver to take them to a safe place, but was told that “there were no keys”.
The husband of one of the victims had served in the Indian Army as a Subedar of the Assam Regiment.
The CBI has alleged that the police did not even help save the father of the person sitting in the vehicle from being attacked by the mob.
The driver of the police gypsy drove the vehicle towards the crowd of about 1,000 people and stopped in front of them. The victims appealed to the police personnel to take them to safety, but no help was provided to them.
The agency said the mob had already killed the father of one of the male victims, who was traveling in a gypsy with two women. Later, the male victim traveling in the gypsy was also beaten to death.
Their bodies were thrown into a dry river near the village. When the violent mob came towards the gypsy, the police personnel fled from the spot, leaving the victims at the mercy of the mob.
As detailed in the three-page charge sheet, the mutilated assault and gang rape of the two female victims began when the rioters pulled them outside, removed their clothes and paraded them naked.
While the two women were facing inhumane sexual assault, a group of rioters were dragging the third victim towards the main road where a police vehicle was parked. She appealed to the police personnel to save her husband, but they did not listen. The charge sheet states that when he tried to enter the police vehicle, they “pushed him away”.
She got lucky when one group of rioters harassing her turned their attention to another group that was attacking two female victims and engaging in the brutal murder of two male victims.
It said the woman fled to another village with her granddaughter, who was 'crying profusely', but was reunited with her family in Naga village the next day.
The CBI has filed the charge sheet against Huirem Herodas Meitei, Arun Kungongbam, Ningombam Tomba Singh, Yumlemban Jiban Singh, Pukhrihongbam Surunjoy Maitei and Namirakapam Kiran Maitei.
“The investigation has established that the accused persons, being part of the ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis, along with a large group of unidentified miscreants from the Meitei community, committed a series of pre-planned criminal acts including violence, arson, sexual assault and murder. A conspiracy was hatched to execute. With clear intentions.
“Their deliberate actions, which specifically targeted the victims from the tribal community, included threats, violence and various unlawful acts aimed at promoting enmity between different groups,” the charge sheet said. “
The CBI said the accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sections related to gang rape, murder, outraging the modesty of a woman and criminal conspiracy.