CM built pressure to release drug mastermind: Manipur cop Th Brinda accuses

Thounaojam Brinda, superintendent of Manipur Police has submitted a written affidavit to the Manipur High Court alleging pressure from the CM Office to release the drug mastermind Lhukhosei Zou, who held the position of Chairman of ADC, Chandel previously.

Not just that, she has also accused the judge who was hearing the bail petition of accused Zou of “unbecoming of a judge with full of disrespect to the seat of justice.” She further mentioned, “In the course of the administration by her while occupying the seat of justice, the tyranny of justice was awakened shaking the confidence of public and lowering the dignity of the court.”

Brinda had submitted the testimonial document after a Suo moto case was registered against her for apparently undermining and criticising the court’s decision to grant bail to Zou accused in a 2018 drug smuggling case. A post made from her Facebook account tended to lower the dignity of the court.

She further mentioned in the affidavit that there exist several high profile drug dealers in the state who are looting the state and posing a threat to the future of the youth and are under the shelter of powerful politicians.

In addition to that, she accused the Manipur government of eye washing people using the banner of War on Drugs when politicians themselves were connected to these drug lords.

Lhykhosei Zou had been arrested with seven others on June 19, 2018, in an operation commanded by her, who had seized about 5 kg heroin, nearly 3 lakh drug tablets, 60 lakh cash, rupees 95,000 old currency notes and certain documents. The accused had also revealed other hidden locations of illegal drugs which included his residence in the ADC quarters in Lampel.

As the police team entered the quarter, BJP vice president, M. Asnikumar, called and inquired about the developments of the drug busting case after which the Chief Minister was briefed about the incident and its developments by Brinda over the phone.

The CM gave a nod to go ahead with the case and arrest any accused.

On June 20th, M. Asnikumar came to visit the lady cop in her house and informed her that chief minister had ordered that Zou’s arrest was replaced by his wife or son. The reason cited behind Zou’s being the right-hand man of the CM’s wife Olice who was unhappy with the arrest, Brinda wrote in her affidavit.

However, on refusing, she was informed that the CM and his wife were quite disgusted at her defiant attitude. She was ordered to release the accused ADC Chairman yet again.

When she was tried to be manipulated on the release for the third time, she firmly informed that she would be happy to resign instead. The affidavit stated.

The affidavit further stated that even when the charge sheet against the accused was sent to the court, she would have been pressurised repeatedly to withdraw it. She had also been asked to make a public clarification to announce that there was no pressure on her.

The officer has also claimed in the affidavit that, she had been called by the Chief Minister who rebuked her saying, “Is this why I gave you the Gallantry Medal? There is something called official secrecy also.“

In all the bail hearings of Zou, Brinda had been repeatedly accused by the Judge of threatening the witness and failure to supervise officials.

However, she clarified in the affidavit that neither did she have any personal grievance against the accused nor the judge. Whatever actions had been taken, were in the interest of the state and for justice to prevail. Rather, she has alleged that the judge had used conflicting facts during the bail hearing. And by “such gross abuse of power” and her action amounted to the contempt of court itself.

Former Manipur CM and Congress leader Ilobi Singh has demanded a proper investigation of the matter at hand and if found true then the Chief Minister must resign.

“This is a matter of serious concern. The truth will only come out once we have a fair investigation regarding this. It is very necessary to understand to what degree the lady is correct. Whoever is responsible, it may be the Chief Minister or any higher rank party worker, should resign on moral grounds. This case should be handed over to CBI, who will conduct an independent investigation to arrive at the proper conclusions“, Singh said.