RK Meghen

Meghen is the second son of RK Madhuyarajit Singh and Laitonjam Ningol Hemabati, and the great grandson of Prince Tikhendrajit^[5] (however there is no significant evidence to prove this claim as Prince Tikendrajit died as a bachelor), the military commander for Manipur Kingdom in the Anglo Manipuri War.^[6][7] He graduated from St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College in Kolkata and went for his Master's degree from Jadavpur University in International Relations.^[8][7][9]

RK Meghen reportedly joined UNLF in 1976.^[10] In 1975, he left Manipur and trekked to a militant camp in Myanmar’s Somra Tract led by Thuingaleng Muivah and S. S. Khaplang; his younger son was six days old.^[11] He became chairman of UNLF in 1998.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, he was arrested at Bangladesh and soon, handed over to India.^[12][13][14] The National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged him along with 18 other leaders for waging a war on India and raising funds by extorting the state government and private bodies.^[13] In June 2016, the NIA Court pronounced a guilty verdict on 11 sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; Meghen was sentenced to 10 years in prison.^[15] He declined to appeal for leniency and rejected that Indian Courts had any sovereign rights to litigate him.^[15]

In November 2019, his sentence was commuted by about 10 months owing to his contributions to the jail such as, setting up a library, a music school for prisoners and construction of a garden inside the Guwahati Central Jail.^[16] He was released from jail, in what was widely perceived to be a governmental strategy during the Naga Peace talks.^[9][17] However, he was disallowed by the National Investigation Agency to immediately return to Manipur and instead transported to a safe house in Guwahati followed by Delhi.^[13][18] On 28 November, he was finally allowed to leave for Imphal.^[18] Meghen has since spent a quite life, away from media attention.^[18]