Manipur drug haul case: Colonel, others granted bail

IMPHAL: Former defence PRO Colonel Ajay Chowdhry and six others, who were arrested with a huge consignment of Myanmar-bound drugs from Pallel market in Thoubal district in February, have been released on bail by a special court in Imphal.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court granted bail to the four accused on Monday and the remaining three, including Chowdhry, on Wednesday.

On February 24, Manipur Police commandos arrested Chowdhry, N Brojendro, an assistant manager in Indigo Airlines, R K Babloo (25), an army sepoy and three tribal youths - H Haokip (28), Minlal Haokip (25) and M Doungel (29) with the drugs worth around Rs 25 crore.

The pseudo ephedrine content drugs were confiscated from three jeeps in which they travelled at Pallel enroute to the border town of Moreh.

The police commandos also nabbed another accused, Seikholen Haokip, son of sitting Congress legislator TN Haokip, from his Deulaland residence in Imphal the following day along with a huge consignment of similar drugs.

As the court's order and relevant papers reached the authorities of Sajiwa Central Jail here on Thursday evening, the three - Chowdhry, Brojendro and Babloo - were released at that time.

In his bail application, Chowdhry pleaded that he was not aware of the presence of drugs in his bag and rejected that the drugs were seized from his possession, a source said adding that similar pleas were submitted by Brojendro and Babloo.

While granting the bail, the NDPS court, however, restricted the accused from leaving the state without prior permission from the court and that they should also cooperate with the investigation of the case.

Police have not submitted chargesheets against the seven before the court.

The Pallel incident came after police seized a huge consignment of similar drugs from Imphal airport on January 11. Even as the state cabinet on March 4 decided to hand over both the Pallel and Imphal airport drug seizure cases to the CBI, the central agency has only agreed to take up the cases a few days ago, a source said.

Taking serious note of the growing trend of trafficking drugs in Manipur, government agencies and a large number of anti-drug NGOs are maintaining sharp vigil in strategic areas to combat the menace.