New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS): The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the central and Manipur governments on a petition seeking a probe by an independent agency into alleged extra judicial killings of people in the state by security forces since 1978.

The apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai issued notice after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that since 1978 about 1,528 people had been killed by security forces.

The petition by the Extrajudicial Executions Victims' Families Association sought a probe by a special investigation team (SIT).

The plea alleged that the killings took place when the victims were in the custody of police or other security forces.

"Not only were there no criminal investigations and prosecutions of the guilty, even departmental enquiries were not conducted and no policemen or personnel of the security forces were punished departmentally for their actions," the petition said.

It said that the "magisterial inquiries that took place sometimes were conducted by the executive magistrates under the cover of secrecy and most often without intimation to the eyewitnesses and the members of the families. They were conducted as an eyewash".