In videos, armed men open fire to ring in New Year

Imphal, Jan 3
Videos of armed men shooting in the air with assault rifles in Manipur to celebrate the New Year have gone viral.
People in Manipur have raised questions over the open display of arms at a time when the State has been limping back to normal under the President's Rule, unlike in the peak of the conflict in 2023 when members of both Meitei and Kuki communities brandished firearms with no fear of the law.
Of the several videos doing the rounds, one has been confirmed as from Tengnoupal district, sources said.
Another video is suspected to have been taken in Kangpokpi district, but officials declined to comment. The voices heard in the videos whose authenticity has been confirmed spoke in a dialect commonly identified with Kukis.
One of the men who was seen shooting an AK series assault rifle while shouting "Happy New Year" is allegedly a policeman. Sources said they are looking into it. In this video, a container truck of the logistics firm Ankur Services was seen behind the man, on the side of what appeared to be a highway.
Ankur Services is an Assam-based firm, and its containers are commonly seen in Manipur. A fast-moving consumer goods distributor told NDTV that one such container which carried heavy equipment was seen in Kangpokpi's Saparmeina. It is suspected the same container was seen behind the man who fired the assault rifle and cheered.
If confirmed, it would mean the incident happened right on National Highway 2.
In the video taken in Tengnoupal district, a young woman was seen holding an assault rifle at a clearing on a hillside. A man in a black uniform with a red shoulder patch helped her point the gun in the air. She pressed the trigger and fired in full auto mode.
Another video showed a group of men cheering as one of them shot in the air to ring in the New Year.
Villagers in the areas where district borders meet have complained that initially they thought they were under attack again. They said the celebratory shootings, however, were meant to scare them into leaving home. They said the sound of sporadic gunfire was heard several times, and not all had been visible in the videos.
In videos, armed men open fire to ring in New Year "Every time we find such videos after incidents like these, they always escape by claiming the videos were from Myanmar and not from here," a villager said.
In February 2025, videos of young people playing football while carrying automatic assault rifles in Manipur's Kangpokpi district were widely shared on social media. Five men were arrested over the incident that happened at K Gamnomphai village ground in Kangpokpi district.
In 2023, young men armed with automatic assault rifles from both communities were frequently seen roaming in the open. Hundreds of videos have surfaced on social media. NDTV