A headmaster of a government primary madrasa was killed for allegedly stealing cows from his neighbouring village in Manipur. The incident took place in Keirao Makting village of Imphal East district, an area dominated by Manipuri Muslims, locally known as Pangals.





Sources said tension gripped Keirao Makting after the body of 55-year-old Md Hasmad Ali alias Babu was found in the early hours of Monday.



Villagers said he was killed by people from neighbouring village after he was caught red-handed while trying to steal cows. Though the police have not been able to ascertain from where villagers got the information that Ali was killed for trying to steal cow, security has been heightened around the area with apprehensions of some vested interest groups trying to create communal tension.



Pangals have been living in the Greater Imphal Valley for decades surrounded by the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki community. Ali’s family told the police that he went out on Sunday around 8 pm after having dinner to buy paan but never returned home. Later, his body was recovered with bruise marks all over, police sources said, adding that Ali was killed in a physical assault.



An angry mob from the village also stormed the Irilbung police station, under whose limits the body was found, demanding to produce the people involved in the killing. The protesters also blocked the Imphal-Yairipok road.