New Delhi/Imphal, March 18 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against three cadres of the banned People’s Liberation Army (PLA) terrorist outfit in connection with last year’s ambush on an Assam Rifles vehicle in Manipur, in which two paramilitary personnel were killed, the probe agency said.

The charge sheet, filed before the NIA Special Court in Imphal, names the three accused under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Arms Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA).

The accused have been identified as Thongram Sadananda Singh alias Ngachik alias Purakpa, Khundongbam Oji Meitei alias Keilal, and Irengbam Jugindra Meitei alias Jugin Meitei, all residents of Manipur. They had been arrested earlier by law enforcement agencies.

The attack on an Assam Rifles truck took place on September 19, 2025, at Nambol Sabal Leikai in Bishnupur district.

According to investigators, the ambush was carried out by PLA cadres as part of a larger conspiracy to spread terror among the public and wage war against the government, with the aim of destabilising the country, an NIA statement said.

NIA investigations revealed that on the day of the incident, armed PLA cadres equipped with prohibited firearms and explosive materials had assembled at the Nambol Sabal Leikai crossing and launched a coordinated ambush on the truck. The vehicle was severely damaged in the attack, which resulted in the deaths of two Assam Rifles personnel and left five others grievously injured.

The NIA, which took over the case from the local police in November 2025, said that further investigation is ongoing.

After the attack last year, a police official had stated that the Assam Rifles team was returning from flood relief operations in the Imphal Valley when their convoy was ambushed by insurgents along National Highway-2 in Bishnupur district. The personnel killed in the attack were Naib Subedar Shyam Gurung, 59, a resident of Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district, and Rifleman Ranjit Singh Kashyap, 36, from Bastar district in Chhattisgarh.

--IANS

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