New Delhi: The Union home ministry has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the case of sexual assault on two women who were stripped and paraded by a mob in Manipur, a top government functionary told news agency PTI on Thursday, July 27.
The government will also file an affidavit, seeking the trial of the case to take place outside Manipur.
The official cited above told PTI that the trial will take place in Assam.
The development comes a day before the Supreme Court is slated to hear the Manipur case.
According to the report, the government is also likely to move the top court on Friday, July 28 for holding the trial outside Manipur.
The official cited above told PTI that the probe into five of the more serious cases involving the Manipur clashes has already been handed over to the CBI.
Separately, the individual who allegedly recorded the Manipur sexual assault video has been identified and apprehended, and the mobile phone used to record the video has been obtained, the Indian Express reported, citing a top home ministry official.
The three-month-long ethnic violence has killed more than 160 people, injured many, and displaced over 70,000 people.
Seventy-nine days after the violence, and only after a video showing two Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob emerged on social media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on Manipur.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties have demanded the prime minister to issue a statement on Manipur in the House.