Manipur women paraded naked and raped were driven to mob by cops, CBI chargesheet reveals

The incident, which occurred on May 4 last year - just a day after ethnic violence broke out between the Meiteis and the Kukis, shook the nation after videos began getting circulated in July.

In its chargesheet filed in October, which has come to light a few days before the anniversary of the start of the violence, the central agency has said that the mob had attacked a third woman belonging to the same family and tried to strip her but failed as she was holding on tightly to her young granddaughter.

She managed to escape the clutches of the mob after the group attacking her went towards the first two survivors - one in her 40s and the other in her 20s.

The attack had taken place in some paddy fields.

The CBI in its chargesheet named six accused in the case and filed a report against a child in conflict with the law (CCL) before the Special CBI judge in Guwahati on October 16 last year.

The document states that the mob that the women were running from was 900-1,000 people strong and many of its members carried sophisticated weapons like AK, SLR, INSAS and .303 rifles, media reports said.

The mob allegedly "burnt to the ground" all the houses of the women's village, B Phainom in Kangpokpi district, after vandalising them.

While the village was being ransacked, the three women and seven others ran into the Haokhongching forest nearby to hide from the mob. However, they were spotted.

One group from the mob took two men and two women with them, another captured the third victim and her granddaughter while the third took the village chief, another man and his two daughters.

The chargesheet states that one of the two women who was gang-raped and paraded naked was unwell and had to be carried on the backs of male members of the family as they proceeded to the Chakhama village, which is about four km from theirs.

The report said the two women and a man managed to get inside the vehicle, a Gypsy, in which two police personnel and a driver were sitting while three to four personnel stood outside.

The man pleaded with the driver to take them to a safe place but was told that "there was no key".

Later, the driver drove the Gypsy straight to the mob and stopped it in front of them. The victims begged the police personnel to drive them to safety, but to no avail.