A 29-year-old man was abducted and shot dead on Wednesday in Manipur’s Churachandpur district by unidentified assailants, who recorded a video of the killing and circulated it, an Assam Rifles official told Scroll.

The man was identified as Mayanglambam Rishikant Singh, a member of the Meitei community from Kakching town. For the past month, he had been staying in the Churachandpur district with his wife Chingnu Haokip, who belongs to the Kuki-Zo community, The Hindu reported.

A purported video of the killing, which surfaced on Wednesday night, showed the man sitting on the ground in darkness, The Indian Express reported. The man could be seen pleading with folded hands to persons not seen in the video, after which two shots were fired at him.

The video carried the text “No peace no popular government”, in a reference to attempts to restore an elected government in Manipur.

Manipur has been under President’s Rule since February 2025, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister.

At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced in the state since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.

While efforts have been underway in recent days to restore an elected government in the state, Kuki militant groups and MLAs have said they will participate in the process only after getting a political commitment for a Union Territory in the Kuki-Zo-majority areas of the state.

Churachandpur Superintendent of Police Gaurav Dogra said that Singh was killed around 7 to 7.30 pm at a village named Nathjang, The Indian Express reported.

Earlier, unidentified persons had reportedly arrived at the couple’s home and taken them away. While Haokip was released, the assailants took Singh a little further and killed him.

Dogra said that Singh did not live in Manipur but stayed and worked in Nepal, according to The Indian Express. He was said to have been living in Churachandpur since December 19.

“Then yesterday, some armed miscreants arrived at the village and killed him,” the newspaper quoted the superintendent of police as saying. “We have not been able to pinpoint those responsible yet and no one has taken responsibility for it, either. The investigation is ongoing.”

The video of Singh’s killing was initially shared on WhatsApp from an IP address based in Guwahati, The Hindu quoted an unidentified official as saying.

Haokip reportedly told the police that four masked men had arrived at her home in an SUV to look for her husband. However, she has not yet been able to identify the assailants, the official said.

She also told the police that no one except the village chief knew that her husband had arrived in the village, The Hindu reported.

The Kuki National Organisation, an umbrella group of Kuki militant outfits, denied allegations that it had given Singh “permission to visit” the area. It claimed that it neither knew about his visit nor was it involved in the killing.