India, Jan. 22 -- Suspected members of a banned Kuki group shot dead a 38-year-old Meitei man after abducting him along with his wife in Manipur's Churachandpur late on Wednesday, shattering months of relative calm in the state, where ethnic violence has left over 260 people dead and 60,000 displaced since May 2023.

Officials identified the man as Mayanglangbam Rishikanta, who was from Meitei-dominated Kakching district but lived with his wife, Chingnu Haokip, in Kuki-majority Churachandpur. They added that armed United Kuki National Army (UKNA) men abducted the couple from Churachandpur's Tuibuong, took them to Natjang, and shot dead Rishikanta even as he pleaded with them to spare his life. Haokip said she was thrown out of a vehicle b...