The Opposition Congress in Manipur on Monday iterated its demand for a CBI probe into a 2018 drug smuggling case in which eight persons, including a politician, were arrested.
Congress spokesperson and former minister O. Joy Singh has urged governor Najma Heptulla in a six-page memorandum that the state government hand over the high-profile case to the CBI “so that the real people involved in the crime could be examined and booked”.
The day also saw state Mahila Congress members stage a dharna at the Congress office in Imphal, seeking a CBI probe into the case.
The Congress has been raking up the demand for a CBI probe and chief minister N. Biren Singh’s resignation on moral grounds following the July 13 affidavit filed by lady police officer Th. Brinda in Manipur High Court in a contempt case against her.
Brinda had in June 2018 arrested eight persons, including Lukhosei Zou, the then Chandel autonomous district council chairman, with 4.6kg of heroin and 2,80,200 WY tablets said to be worth nearly Rs 28 crore in the international market. Zou, who is now with the BJP, is in judicial custody.
Sources said the affidavit has been placed under the “defective list” which, a senior lawyer said, has not been admitted because of certain technical defects. “It is not yet a court document,” the lawyer added. Joy Singh said it is a “technical issue, which can be rectified.”
Manipur BJP president S. Tikendrajit told The Telegraph said he has “no comments to offer because the matter is sub-judice”.
He said the Congress is a political party and “can do whatever they feel like”.
Last week, the Manipur PCC leadership and CLP leader Okram Ibobi Singh had demanded a CBI probe and resignation of the chief minister. It was followed by a dharna by Youth Congress members.
In his memorandum, Joy Singh urged the governor to use her “discretionary powers” and advise chief minister Biren Singh to resign for a fair trial.
“The officers who were alleged to have tried to influence the investigation may either be suspended or at least withdrawn from all their assignments till they clear their name,” Joy Singh, who addressed a press conference in the afternoon in Imphal, stated in his memorandum.
Biren Singh had last week responded to the allegations by asserting that the government’s war against drugs would continue and nobody involved in the smuggling case will be spared. He also said media reports based on the affidavit were baseless.
Sources said Brinda and a local newspaper publisher have been summoned by the court on Thursday in the contempt case. They also said that Brinda, who could not be contacted, had in an interview categorically stated that the chief minister had not pressured her to let go of the main accused, Zou. Brinda invited the high court’s ire after she, in a Facebook post, criticised the lady judge who had granted interim bail to Zou on May 21.
