4 min readChurachandpurFeb 26, 2026 07:20 AM IST
After a three-day journey from Delhi to the family home in Manipur’s Churachandpur, and a day of well-wishers gathering to pay their respects, the body of deceased Manipur MLA Vungzagin Valte has been shifted to the morgue of the Churachandpur Medical College. His family is now awaiting the autopsy they have requested.
Valte, a BJP MLA from the Zomi community, died in a hospital in Gurugram on February 21 after a prolonged illness following his brutal assault by a mob in Imphal on May 4, 2023. Now, after his death, his family are looking to push their demand for further investigation into the assault he never recovered from. No arrests were made in connection with the attack.
At the family’s home in Churachandpur on Wednesday morning, Valte’s eldest son Joseph was still visibly shaken by his father’s death after nearly three years of medical treatment. After the body arrived at the home on Tuesday afternoon, Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh visited the family and paid their respects.
“From our side, we told them that we want there to be a CBI enquiry. But there was no assurance on this from the Governor. As of now, I don’t know when we will conduct the final rites and burial. We will send the body to the morgue for a post-mortem and the matter will then be looked at by the Zomi Council,” he said, referring to the Churachandpur-based apex body representing eight tribes under the Zomi umbrella.
Last September, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Manipur, a letter from Valte was submitted to him. The letter expressed unhappiness that “no special inquiry (CBI/NIA) has been initiated” into the attack on the MLA. In the letter, Valte alleged he was “by the Meitei militia (Arambai Tenggol)” on May 4 when he was on his way home after a security meeting — held at then Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s office — on the ethnic violence that had gripped the state.
Around 1.40 pm on Wednesday, Valte’s body, wrapped in a traditional shawl, was moved to the morgue in the medical college. An official said the institute had received a post-mortem request from the Imphal West Police, in whose jurisdiction the FIR for the assault on Valte was registered.
“Before that, the family was still deciding whether they wanted a post-mortem done. The main concern they expressed is that since they are asking for urgent higher investigation into this matter, they want to make sure that all possible evidence required by investigators is taken before burying the body,” said the official
Zomi Council’s stand
Story continues below this ad
The Zomi Council said it was also determining the course of action about the burial. “If even an elected public representative from our community is not safe, full security cannot be provided to him and he was dragged out and left for the dead by a Meitei mob, our aspiration for separate administration is very necessary at this juncture. We want to press the government to increase its pace in dealing with the question of separate administration. We will have meetings with our frontal organisations and, if required, with the inpis (tribal councils) of our constituent tribes. We will consult on how we want to raise this with the government, and after that, we will take the initiative for the burial service with the family,” said the Council’s Information and Publicity Secretary Mary Jones Vung.
Valte’s body was flown to Mizoram’s Lengpui airport on the afternoon of February 22. From there, it was carried in a long procession by road to Churachandpur over the next two days, covering a distance of over 350 km. The procession travelled through villages in Valte’s constituency, Thanlon, so that people could pay their last respects, and also went to the village of Mualnuam in Churachandpur, where he was born. The procession arrived at the family home of the Valtes on Tuesday afternoon.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd