Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, September 04, 2010:
Police today ruled out involvement of some police personnel in the mobile handset robbery case which was charged by the residents of Singjamei Bazar yesterday based on disclosure made by the three robbers caught by them.
Meanwhile, residents of the area staged a sit-in demonstration demanding making Singjamei Bazar a secured place by checking increasing robbery incidents in the Bazar alleging that it was due to increasing drug abuse youths in the area and punishment to the police personnel involved in the robbery cases.
Additional SP of Imphal West District Police, Nongmaithem Herojit today, in a briefing to the media, said that they had conducted investigation into the alleged involvement of some police personnel in the mobile handset robbing spree at Singjamei Bazar.
During the course of investigation, police had picked up some other persons allegedly involved in the case including those caught by the people yesterday morning from the Bazar area.
The two youths, Huiningsubam Suresh @ Abung and Thingujam Somi, handed over by the people on the alleged charged of involving in the robbery cases, were found to be drug users.
They were involved in various cases of robbery and thieving, the additional SP said.
Further investigation into the case found that the two youths were not involved in the robbery of mobile handsets worth around Rs 10.50 lakhs from a shop at Singjamei Bazar on July 28, 2010.Police also came to know that Suresh had admitted that he involved in the thieving incident unable to bear with the excessive meted out by the crowd.
With regard to the names of the four police personnel they had mentioned, any personnel by the Jiten, Roshan and Ranjit were not in the police posting at Singjamei police personnel.
Another one by the name Sharat is in the police station but the physique of the man they said is totally different with him.
Basanta who was caught by the people following revelation of Suresh, a professional Pung Yeiba was implicated by Suresh taking advantage of personal enmity of the passed.
However, Basanta is found to be involved in selling out items stolen by other.
Herojit alleged that Suresh has been using drug and other intoxicant items for the last three months while Somi for the last around one year.
To meet their expenditure, they had robbed many shops and properties of individuals including from the shops at Singjamei Super Market.
As per their statement, they had robbed two digital cameras from Yaku Kodak Shop, a stabilizer from a hotel in the same bazar, three moble chargers with other items from a shop near the Manipur College among others.
In the follow up incident to the disclosers made by the duo, police had arrested two other youths involved in various robbery cases.
They were Kongrailakpam Pandam (25) son of Achoubi of Chinga Makha and Salam Sharat (35) of same locality with the former, he added.
On the other hand, in the aftermath of yesterday�s robbery incident at Singjamei Bazar, shopkeepers of the market down shuttered their shops for the day and took part in the sit-in demonstration staged by the residents of the area demanding a secure environment, free from all sort of robbery and thieving, by controlling increasing numbers of drug users and addicts among the youths.
The sit-in demonstration started around 10 am and went on till 3 pm.
While demanding checking and controlling of robbery in the bazar area, they also demanded booking of the police personnel who collude with the robbers.