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A police press release on Friday had denied the report about Nagas leaving Imphal in view of the current agitation against the Centre-National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M) ceasefire extension to Manipur.
Several residents at Naga-populated Nagaram area in the heart of Imphal on Saturday, however, said that five buses transported Nagas from Nagaram and nearby Sangakpham to Mao area in Senapati district on the night of June 20.
They said hundreds of Nagas also left on June 21 morning when the indefinite curfew was relaxed for a few hours and added that only one or two persons in each house were staying back to look after the house and belongings.
They said the buses, which had left on the night of June 21, were fully loaded with passengers occupying even the roofs.
Official sources on Friday said a few thousand Nagas were being shifted from different parts of Imphal district to safer places by para-military forces since Thursday night as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, several social organisations, in separate statements, appealed to the public to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from doing anything that would incite communal disharmony.
The statements said the people should not be carried away by attempts to divide the hill and valley people who had been living harmoniously since time immemorial.
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