Court approves pre-arrest bail of VVs
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, January 08 2025:
The court of CJM, Kamrup (M) Assam on Tuesday approved the pre-arrest bail of three village volunteers arrested by CBI in connection with a case.
On Tuesday, hearing was conducted for the pre-bail application of village volunteers - Keisham Johnson, Konthoujam Romojit and Athokpam Kajit alias Kishorjit, arrested by CBI Special Crime Branch, Kolkata in connection with looting of weapons from MPTC, Pangei during the conflict.
During the hearing, the petitioners' counsel submitted that the case, being one of the many cases taken up the CBI in accordance with an order of the Supreme Court is being heard in the court of CJM Kamrup (M).
After listening to the submissions of the counsel, the court observed that the application would be regarded as under the court's jurisdiction.
Although CBI had filed the chargesheet of the case, the matter remains pending as the accused persons did not appear before the court of CJM Kamrup (M).
The accused persons/pe-titioners feared that they might be arrested if they presented themselves before the court and as such, the petitioners filed an application to allow them not to appear before the court.
On December 17 last year, the court granted bail to the accused persons on execution of a bail bond of Rs 20,000 and a surety bond of same amount, following which they approached the court the next day.
However, CBI filed an objection against the court's order on January 3, stating that contrary to the court's record, the accused persons/petitioners have not appeared before the court.
Since the CBI has submitted the chargesheet to the court, the trial can commence and the accused persons/petitioners are outside custody.
However, the objection filed by CBI failed to provide any valid reason to keep the accused persons/petitioners in custody.
Thus, the court approved the pre-arrest bail and declared the interim order of December 17 last as absolute.