Unidentified miscreants on Sunday afternoon torched five abandoned houses at New Lambulane locality in Manipur’s capital Imphal.
Fire tenders rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control after several hours, officials said.
According to local sources, three of the houses belonged to the Kuki community and the owners of the other were from Meitei community.
Soon after the incident, people gathered in the area and demanded state and central forces be deployed in the locality to allow them to enter the area, officials said, adding that the security forces later fired a few rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
Arms snatched: In another development, unidentified Khaki-clad miscreants snatched three weapons from the security personnel guarding the residence of former health and family welfare director K Rajo around 2 a.m. on Sunday, police said.
The incident took place at Sagolband Bijoy Govinda under Imphal PS in Imphal West district, police said, adding the snatched weapons included two AK series rifles and a carbine.
As per reports, around three armed miscreants overpowered the security personnel and took away their weapons.
A total of six security personnel were detailed as house guard and out of them, three were on sentry duty.
An investigation is on to determine the circumstances leading to the incident, officials said.
Police, meanwhile, have launched multiple operations to retrieve the weapons and apprehend those involved.
