Son granted bail, father denied
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 08 2022:
The Special Court NIA Manipur today passed an order to release Thangkhualian on his execution of a PR bond of Rs l Lakh with two sureties provided by Government employees, one of whom should be Gazette Officer.
However, the same Court rejected the bail application of Thangkhualian's father Khamliankhup in connection with the investigation taken up by NIA against them for their alleged their involvement in a deadly ambush laid by militants of PLA and MNPF in which one Commanding Officer of 46 Assam Rifles, his wife, a minor son and four other personnel were killed and six other Assam Rifle personnel were injured on November 13 last year at Sialsih village, Churachandpur district near Indo-Myanmar border.
Orders on two separate bail applications filed by the father and the son namely; Khamliankhup (58) s/o (L) Lamchinthang and Thangkhualian (28) s/o Khamliankhup of Jangnuam, Singngat sub-division were kept reserved till today after the bail applications were heard on August 23 .
The prosecution story of NIA says that the case was re-registered by NIA after they took it over from Singngat police station.
During the investigation of the case, accused Khamliankhup was arrested on May 21, 2022 and his son Thangkhualian was arrested on May 27 .
They mentioned their address as Jangnuam of Singngat sub-division and the same was mentioned in the Aadhaar cards recovered from their possession.
But during investigation of a report furnished by the SP Churachandpur, it came to light that no person by the names of Khamliankhup and Thangkhualian lived in the said address and Thangkhualian in his statement stated that he was born and brought up in Tongjang City of Chin State, Myanmar.
Thangkhualian's counsel submitted that Thangkhualian is a resident of Jangnuam, Singngat sub-division and ran a small business which required him to come to Imphal and buy items for villagers and thus he earned some profit out of it.
It was further submitted that the father and the son were arrested on May 20 while they were purchasing two boxes of air gun pellets from a gun shop located at Thangal Bazar and allegedly detained at City police station.
However, when they were produced before Court, it was said that Khamliankhup was arrested on May 21 while Thangkhualian was arrested on May 27 .
The counsel further submitted that the alleged accused persons were forced to give their statements in the line of a version tutored by the NIA and after being threatened of torture.
No incriminating article was recovered from the persons of the alleged accused at the time of arrest or at their instance during the course of investigation, the counsel said.
It was also submitted that Khamliankhup could only identify the face of Berlin of all the photographs shown to him as Berlin is a distant relative, being the husband of one of her nieces.
Khamliankhup had no knowledge that Berlin was a PLA cadre, the counsel contended.
The counsels of the father and the son then prayed the Court for releasing them on bail.
On the other hand, the Special PP, NIA submitted that accused persons are residents of Myanmar who illegally entered India and obtained Aadhaar cards with fake documents, and investigation is going on in the regard.
The Special PP submitted that father and the son illegally bought guns from Imphal and sold them to insurgent group and villagers residing at Indo-Myanmar border.
Within two years, the duo bought about 300-400 guns from Imphal and also mobile phones and other things which were not possible for poor villagers.
Investigation also revealed that the alleged accused were very close to one Berlin, a wanted self-styled Lieutenant of the PLA and Khamliankhup identified and verified Berlin in the photographs in presence of witnesses.
The offence is related to the offences which are punishable with death penalty and investigation is going on and lots of things have to be investigated and it is too early to consider the bail applications in such heinous crime, the Special PP said and prayed for rejecting the bail applications.
The Court, after hearing the both parties in length and on perusal of the case record, observed that at the present stage of investigation, there is prima facie material which supports the allegation against alleged accused son, Thangkhualian.
Thus, the Court passed an order to release Thangkhualian on bail on his execution of a PR bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties ( both Government employee, one of whom should be a gazette officer) of the like amounts and on the condition that he shall not abscond but present before Court as and when required.
The accused shall not leave the State without prior permission of the Court and shall appear before the IO of the case at the Office of NIA on the second Monday of every month starting from September, mentioned the Court's order.
The Court, on the other hand, rejected the bail applications of Khamliankhup as same Court found some materials which inspire confidence that he had some role in the ambush on the convoy of 46th Assam Rifles as alleged by the NIA.
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