Students' killing: CBI team led by special director to reach Imphal today

NEW DELHI: A team of CBI officials, led by the agency's Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, will reach Imphal in a special flight on Wednesday to investigate the "kidnapping and killing" of two students who went missing in the northeastern state on July 6, sources said.

The decision was taken within hours of the case being handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the Manipur government. The team of officials under Bhatnagar, the second-in-command in the federal agency, will also have joint director Ghanshyam Upadhyay, who is camping in Imphal, the sources said. The team will comprise officers who have expertise in special crime, crime scene recreation, interrogation and technical surveillance.

Students missing since July

It will also have experts from the CBI's elite Central Forensic Science Laboratory, the sources said. Photos of the bodies of the two students -- Phijam Hemjit (20) and Hijam Linthoingambi (17) -- who were missing since July, went viral on social media on Monday. One of the two photos purportedly showed the students with two armed men and the other was of two bodies. Police had previously said the whereabouts of the two were not known and their mobile phones were found switched off. The last location of their mobile handsets was traced to Lamdan, near the winter flower tourist spot in Churachandpur district, police had said.

In a post on X, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said: "In light of the distressing news that emerged yesterday regarding the tragic demise of the missing students, I want to assure the people of the state that both the state and central government are closely working together to nab the perpetrators." He said the presence of the CBI officers in the state "underscores the commitment of our authorities to swiftly resolve this matter".