NEW DELHI: In a significant mobilisation, the CBI on Wednesday assigned 53 officers, including 29 women, from its sections throughout the nation to investigate assault cases in Manipur, according to officials. According to them, the team, which consists of three DIGs (Lovely Katiyar, Nirmala Devi, and Mohit Gupta), as well as Superintendent of Police Rajveer, will be under the direction of Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay who will also oversee the investigation as a whole. According to them, this mobilisation is the first of its type to simultaneously call in such a significant number of female police.According to sources, several of these instances under investigation by the CBI may fall under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which can be investigated by an officer with the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The 53-member team also includes two additional superintendents of police and six deputy superintendents of police, all of whom are female, they claimed. The agency has despatched three DIGs and one SP to oversee and monitor the investigations as the Deputy Superintendents of Police cannot act as supervisory officers under such circumstances, they claimed. The squad would also consist of 10 sub-inspectors in addition to the 16 inspectors, they claimed.According to officials, the CBI typically leans on the state in question to provide manpower when the agency is given such a high number of cases. To avoid any claims of prejudice in the investigation, the officials said they will work to minimise the role of local officers in the case of Manipur. Eight cases have already been reported to the agency, including the two involving the mob’s stripping and displaying of women on May 4, which generated a huge uproar when a video of it surfaced on social media on July 16. Nine additional Manipur violence cases will be investigated by the CBI, bringing the total number of cases being looked at by the agency to 17, according to officials.The investigation by the central agency would not be restricted to only 17 cases, according to officials aware of recent developments. It may also be referred to on a priority basis for any other cases involving sexual assault or crimes against women, they stated. They claim that the investigation team would probably take on another instance of suspected sexual assault in the state’s Churachandpur district. Given that society is segregated along ethnic lines, the CBI has the difficult challenge of fending off accusations of prejudice during the Manipur operation because any participation by members of one group is likely to lead to finger-pointing, according to the authorities. All forensic samples will be sent by the central investigation agency to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in the nation’s capital.Since ethnic unrest erupted in the state on May 3 when a “Tribal Solidarity March” was held in the hill areas to protest the majority Meitei community’s desire for Scheduled Tribe status, more than 160 people have been murdered and several hundred injured. The tribal population of Manipur, which includes the Naga and Kuki people, makes about 40% of the total population and is primarily concentrated in the hill regions, whereas Meiteis make up around 53% of the population and reside primarily in the Imphal Valley.