PLA man cleared of charges in IPS officer killing case
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network
Imphal, March 23 2014:
After nearly 25 years, a PLA cadre has been cleared of the charges leveled against him by a court here in connection with killing of an IPS officer, in a case dating back to 1989 .
Accordingly, the Court has asked for the release of the PLA cadre if no other cases are pending against him.
IPS officer Miss Vandana Malik (IPS) was killed in an ambush laid by some suspected PLA cadres at Konthoujam Lamkhai in Imphal West district on April 8, 1989 .
On that fateful day, Miss Vandana Malik, who was then the officer-in charge (OC) of Lamphel Police Station (now under Imphal West district) and her team were heading to an examination centre of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) on security duty.
Around 3 pm, a group of suspected PLA cadres laid an ambush killing Miss Vandana Malik on the spot and injured four police constables critically.
One sten-gun, one .38 revolver, two rifles and some ammunitions were taken away by the suspected militants after the incident.
Based on the intelligence inputs, a case was taken up against five cadres of PLA.
Owing to the gravity of the case and the seriousness of the incident, the Government of Manipur later transferred the case to the CBI.
Subsequently, CBI submitted charge-sheet against five PLA cadres who were allegedly involved in the ambush.
The PLA cadres were N Saratchandra, Thokchom Kunje alias Tolen, M Inaoba alias John, L Tombi alias Surendro and Ch Subhash alias Dolen.
Of the five cadres, some of them had passed away while others had not been arrested.
On September 15, 2011, Thokchom Kunje was arrested by the police from a place in Assam.
Ever since, he has been languishing in Sajiwa Jail, Imphal.
Advocate A Ibomcha is the government counsel while advocate Khaidem Mani is the counsel for Thokchom Kunje.
In the case proceedings, there were 50 witnesses and 107 documents involved.
The court concluded that there was no evidence to support that Thokchom Kunje was involved in the IPS officer killing incident or the April 8, 1989 ambush case.
On Saturday, A Guneshwar Sharma, Designated Judge, Manipur East pronounced that Thokchom Kunje is innocent in connection with the said incident and directed for the release of him if no other cases are against him.