Saturday, July 05, 2008

Grenade hurled at RIMS

Imphal, July 4: Suspected militants attacked the official quarters of Y. Mohen Singh, the medical superintendent of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) with two hand grenades for the second consecutive day today.

Unidentified persons, whom police suspect to be militants, had thrown a grenade at the house of the official yesterday. However, on both occasions, the Chinese hand grenades failed to explode.

The police this morning recovered two pin-less hand grenades from the grassy patch in front of the courtyard of the quarters and safely exploded them. They said if the grenades had exploded, they could have caused extensive damage to the house and even resulted in casualties.

Singh and the director of RIMS, L. Fimate, were not available for comment, but sources said both the officials were seriously concerned about the repeated attacks on the official’s home.

The superintendent could not offer any clue to the identity of the attackers or the motive. India Reserve Battalion personnel are guarding the quarters inside the RIMS complex.

Police investigators are looking into possibilities of the involvement of the Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council) in both the attacks. “Yes, the official has been threatened by the militant group. But we could not pinpoint the group behind the latest attacks,” a senior police officer said.

In March, the outfit accused both the director and the superintendent of indulging in corrupt practices while recruiting staff members and had threatened to target them if they failed to correct their ways.

Both the officials had strongly refuted the charges, claiming that the outfit made the “baseless” allegations after the institute failed to meet their “certain demands”.

The institute closed the outpatient department for one day on March 30 and doctors, nurses and students held a daylong sit-in to protest against the threat.

It is the same outfit that exploded a powerful improvised explosive device near the office of the director and in front of the pathology department on the night of May 25.

The incident sparked angry protests from officials and medical staff. They held a sit-in for three days by closing classes, outpatient department, casualty department and also the operation theatre.

The incidents came at a time when the RIMS was gearing up for major changes. On May 14, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss announced a series of development projects for the institute, including free treatment for patients below the poverty line.

Source: The Telegraph India

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