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Missing arms case: NIA attaches Manipur MLA’s properties

Missing arms case: NIA attaches Manipur MLA’s properties

Yamthong Haokip

Yamthong Haokip

New Delhi : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached immovable properties of Manipur’s Saikul constituency MLA Yamthong Haokip in a missing arms case, the agency said on Friday.

The attached properties included the house of the MLA in Imphal in connection with the case, as this property constituted proceeds of “terrorism as defined in Section 25 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act”.

Besides, the NIA also attached four separate plots valued at Rs 1.32 crore which are in the name of the MLA and his wife Sapam Charubala Devi.

The NIA has been investigating the case of missing 58 pistols of 9 mm from the Arms Kote of the battalion quarter guard armoury located on the premises of second Battalion of Manipur Rifles from June 1, 2018. The agency took over the case from the state police which registered it on March 30, 2018.

During investigation, 20 pistols were recovered, including one from the residential premises of the MLA.

The NIA had filed first chargesheet against eight accused on September 25, 2018.

Subsequently, the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet on January 25, 2019 against the MLA, David Hangshing (Chairman of Kuki Revolutionary Army), Lhunkhoson Haokip (Chariman of United Kuki Liberation front) and Th Diamond Singh (Driver of MLA Saikul).

All accused are currently in judicial custody.

On March 30, 2018, a written complaint was lodged by P. Manjit Singh, Commandant of second Battalion of Manipur Rifles, at Imphal police station.

In his complaint, Singh had mentioned that a committee was formed on February 8, 2018 to examine the present holding of arms and ammunitions of both the unit and the PHQ Pool three days after he resumed the charge of Commandant of Manipur Rifles.

The committee submitted its preliminary report on February 29, 2018, stating that out of 570 number of auto “9 mm 1 A pistols” received from the PHQ on September 11, 2014, 58 with magazines were missing.

—IANS

NIA probing cross-border link in smuggling of fake currency

NIA probing cross-border link in smuggling of fake currency

fake currencyErnakulam (Kerala) : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched an investigating to find cross-border links in the smuggling of fake currency notes, the central agency said while filing a chargesheet in a counterfeit currency case here on Saturday.

The NIA filed the charge-sheet in a Special Court in Ernakulam against Ali Hossain, 29, a resident of Murshidabad district in West Bengal.

It charged that Hossain, along with his associates — all Bangladeshi nationals, hatched a criminal conspiracy to circulate fake notes as genuine. Hossain had procured fake Indian currency notes through his associates from the neighbouring country.

“Further investigation to unearth cross-border links of accused in this case continues,” the NIA said.

The agency has chargesheeted him under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and some other sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The NIA lodged a case on August 19 against Hossain, who was arrested by the Kerala Police, when he attempted to use counterfeit currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination as genuine currency at a shop in Thrissur.

Two fake currency were recovered from his possession, while 101 more counterfeit currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination, were recovered at the instance of the accused from his rented accommodation at Mudapallur in Palakkad district.

—IANS

Bombay HC refuses to stop framing of charges in Malegaon 2008 case

Bombay HC refuses to stop framing of charges in Malegaon 2008 case

Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court on Tuesday declined to stay a lower court order for framing of charges in a case against Lt. Col. Srikant P. Purohit and 13 other accused in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast.

Purohit had challenged the decision of the lower court in the high court, seeking a stay on the framing of charges on September 5, the critical pre-trial process in the case.

On August 29, Special Judge Vinod Padalkar of the NIA Special Court had ruled that charges would be framed against Purohit and the remaining 13 accused in the Malegaon case.

Besides challenging the Special Court order, Purohit also sought a stay on the proceedings until the court finally decided on the applicability of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which all the 14 main accused, among them Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, have been charged, besides provisions of the Indian Penal Code and other laws.

He also questioned the sanction granted by the Maharashtra government in January 2009, for his prosecution and the dismissal of his plea seeking a discharge from the case by the Special Court in December 2017.

The development came exactly 10 years after a powerful low-intensity bomb planted on a motorcycle ripped through a crowded Muslim-majority locality of Malegaon town in Nashik, on September 29, 2008, killing seven and injuring over 100 people.

Purohit, who was granted bail in 2017 after spending nine years in custody, is currently posted at the Military Station in Colaba, south Mumbai.

The 14 accused (including Purohit) are: a former Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, a self-proclaimed seer, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey, Rakesh Dhawde, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Pravin Takalki, Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Ajay Rahirkar, and Jagdish Mhatre, besides two absconders, Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra.

—IANS

NIA court convicts one more in espionage case

NIA court convicts one more in espionage case

NIAChennai : A special NIA court here has pronounced Mohamed Saleem guilty in an espionage case for possessing counterfeit currency and conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks, the central agency’s official said on Tuesday.

The National Investigation Agency court delivered the judgment on Monday convicting 43-year-old Saleem for hatching a criminal conspiracy in 2014 along with the then officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The judgment said Saleem and others intended to cause explosions at the US Consulate and other places of public congregation in Chennai besides other installations in South India.

Saleem has been awarded simple imprisonment of five years along with a fine of Rs 2,000, the NIA official said.

The NIA, which took over the case from Tamil Nadu Police in June, 2014, said that Saleem had procured high quality counterfeit Indian currency notes for meeting the expenses towards the terror activities.

It said that on April 28, 2014, Sri Lankan national Mohammed Sakir Hussain, the first to be convicted in the case, had arrived in Chennai to carry out terrorist acts on instructions from his handlers in the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo. Hussain was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police.

Saleem and one of his associates Sivabalan were arrested on May 1, 2014, when high quality counterfeit Indian currency notes having face value of Rs 250,000 were seized from their possession, the official said.

The NIA filed a charge sheet against Hussain, Sivabalan and Saleem in October 2014 on the charges of criminal conspiracy and under other sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

During the framing of charges, Hussain had pleaded guilty of all charges and was accordingly convicted on November 28, 2014.

The anti-terror agency also filed a supplementary charge sheet against the then Pakistan High Commission, Colombo, official Amir Zubair Siddiqui and two Chennai residents — Balasubramanian and Noorudeen — on February 22, in the case.

Siddiqui continues to be an absconder, the official added.

—IANS

Asiya Andrabi case: NIA summons Srinagar reporter to Delhi

Asiya Andrabi case: NIA summons Srinagar reporter to Delhi

Asiya Andrabi

Asiya Andrabi

Srinagar : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday summoned a local reporter to Delhi in connection with a case registered against Asiya Andrabi, chief of women’s separatist group “Dukhtaran-e-Milat” (daughters of faith).

Sources said Aquib Javeed, an accredited journalist working with local English daily “Kashmir Observer”, has been summoned to the NIA headquarters in the national capital in connection with the case registered by the agency against Asiya Andrabi.

“It appears you are acquainted with the circumstances of the case which is under investigation by the Superintendent of Police, NIA, New Delhi under Chapter XII code of criminal procedure. You are therefore requested to attend before the undersigned at NIA headquarters on July 15 for the purpose of your examination relating to the case,” the NIA has said in the notice to Aquib.

Asiya Andrabi was arrested by NIA along with two of her associates and shifted to New Delhi on July 6.

—IANS