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Raid by Angamis on Shipvomi |
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Relations with Tributary States and Foreign Affairs |
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men of Thetcholomi found to have murdered Khonoma traders, not Shipvomi, and village burnt with Manipuri cooperation |
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On the 24th March the Officiating Deputy-Commissioner, Mr. R.T. Greer, left Kohima to make a local inquiry and reached Razami by way of Phasema, Kezakenoma, and Megwema, on 1st March. The headmen of three villages were summoned: the headmen of Gaziphami only appeared. They reported that a party of armed men from Shipvomi had been seen near the spot where the murder was committed, and it was suspected that they had committed the crime in order to obtain human trophies to celebrate the funeral of one of the headmen, named Voi, who had recently died. |
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The headmen of the other two villages failed to appear and as these villages were in Manipur territory, further inquiry was postponed in order that the co-operation of the Manipur authorities might be obtained. The inquiries made left no doubt that the three khels of Khonoma took the leading part in the raid, and that they were assisted by Kigwema, Mima, Vishwema, Kekrima and other Angami villages. In April a party of dubhashas who had been sent out to make inquiries reported that the village of Thetcholomi (Tilomi) was implicated in the murder, and that the property taken from the murdered traders had been brought to that village. |
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The Deputy-Commissioner, accompanied by the Commandant of Frontier Police and Civil Surgeon, paid a visit to Manipur at the end of April. As Major Trotter was detained in Manipur by the course of affairs in Burma, Tangal Major was deputed by the Darbar to co-operate in the inquiry. The party left Manipur on the 27th April and reached Shipvomi on the 4th May. The village, estimated to contain 800 souls, was found to have been burnt. Nerubahama, a branch village, is on a lower spur three miles off and Gaziphami overlooks the valley of the Razarhi. The Gaziphami informers appeared, and two of the accused of Shipvomi, who solemnly denied their guilt; no evidence was forthcoming to connect Shipvomi with the murder of the three Khonoma traders, and general suspicion pointed to Thetcholomi as the guilty village. It was ascertained that Shipvomi had been attacked by the raiders from Khonoma 500 to 1,000 strong early in the morning of the 15th February. The inhabitants, having heard of the proposed attack from Kigwema, had removed their families and fled to the jungle, and no resistance was made. The raiders plundered and burnt the village and killed two men and two women of Shipvomi and one man and two women of Neruhabama. On their way back they overtook and killed three men of Gaziphami. After halting one day at Gaziphami, the Deputy-Commissioner proceeded on the 7th May to Thetcholomi with a guard of 50 frontier police. The village, which is on a steep hill overlooking the Razarhi river, and contains about 800 souls, was found deserted, the inhabitants, fearing punishment, having panjied the approaches, blocked up with newly-felled trees the paths to the village, and removed their families and movable property. One of the followers received two wounds from a panji. The men of Thetcholomi, after repeated summonses, failed to appear. The headmen of five neighbouring villages were examined and from their evidence it was clear that the murder of the three Khonoma traders had been committed by men of Thetcholomi. Three Khonoma traders had halted a night at Thetcholomi early in February, and after they had started next morning, five men of that village whose names were given, pursued them and speared them on the banks of the Razarhi below Ghaziphami, returning to their village with the plundered property. These men had admitted their guilt to the villagers of Yasabami and had removed their families into hiding immediately after the occurrence. A child of one of them found at Yasabami, stated that her father had brought back some clothes, which were identified in Khonoma as the property of the murdered men. As the men of Thetcholomi failed to appear, after repeated warnings, their village was burnt and a guard of 30 frontier police left to occupy the site until the murderers should be given up. |
