Court orders forfeiture of UNLF assets
Source: The Sangai Express / Deeptiman Tiwary, Courtesy : TNN
New Delhi, July 31 2013:
For the first time a Court has ordered forfeiture of property under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) after it was proved that the property was bought from proceeds of extortions.
The order was passed by the Guwahati special NIA Court last week in connection with a case registered against operatives of United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur.
In 2010, NIA had registered a case against the outfit under UAPA and arrested 25 members, including UNLF chairman RK Meghen.
The forfeited property includes a food processing plant based in a plot of 7.46 acres belonging to Association of Extensive Growers Innovative Service (AEGIS).
The Court has also forfeited Rs.17 lakh in cash seized during investigation.
"This is the first forfeiture order issued in an NIA case and perhaps the first under UAPA," said an NIA officer adding that the agency had been able to prove in the court that property had been acquired using money extorted from people by the armed outfit.
The court in its order has observed: "...in order to build its financial assets with extorted money, UNLF invested the said money in different projects/companies including AEGIS which a fruit processing unit, established and financed by UNLF.
...During the course of investigation sufficient material evidence have been brought on record establishing the fact that AEGIS is based on proceeds of extortions" .
A chargesheet in the case was filed before the NIA court on February 14, 2011 under various sections of IPC and UAPA.
A supplementary charge sheet was filed against six more accused on March 6, 2012.Meghen and his associates are presently facing trial in the same court.