The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West on Thursday granted bail to five accused persons while remanding one to fifteen days judicial custody in connection with the lobbing of a hand grenade at the office of Poknapham, a local daily at Keishampat, Imphal on the evening of February 13.
The court released Sirajuddin, 29, son of (L) Sahabuddin of Kwakta; Jamaruddin, 51, son of Shamsuzaman of Kwakta; Moijing Maulana Tajuddin, 34, son of Moijing Mohammed Sahabuddin of Kwakta; Moirangthem Ramesh, 24 son of M Sobha Singh of Moirang Khunou Makha Leikai and Samir Khan, 36, son of Helim Khan of Kshetri Awang Leikai, Kshetrigao on the ground of not finding any solid prima facie materials against them of their direct involvement in the commission of offence.
The court released them on bail after furnishing PR bond of Rs 50,000 each with surety. However, the court said that they should not threaten, contact, or induce any of the prosecution witnesses, they should make themselves available for interrogation by the investigating officer as and when required, that they should not commit any offence in the future, they should not leave the state without prior permission of the court, till trail is over, and they should not temper or threat the witnesses or the complainant.
However, the accused Md Abdul Hasan, 34 son of Md Itonchou of Saiton Awang Leikai, Kwakta Bazar was remanded into fifteen days police custody till April 1. He was re-arrested by Moirang Police under an alleged forgery case.
The court in regards to the accused Samir Khan stated that he believes that section 45 CrPC does not comply in the matter with him being an Army personnel working in Assam Rifles and discharging his duty as an intelligence agent on behalf of Assam Rifles. It is also possible that other accused persons took his name after fully knowing the fact that Samir Khan is an intelligent agent of Assam Rifles and by doing so they will get some protection.
The court also mentioned that under section 45CrPC “Protection of members of the Armed Forces from arrest.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 41 to 44 (both inclusive), no member of the Armed Forces of the Union shall be arrested for anything done or purported to be done by him in the discharge of his official duties except after obtaining the consent of the Central Government. (2) The State Government may, by notification, direct that the provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply to such class or category of the member of the Force charged with the maintenance of public order as may be specified therein, wherever they may be serving, and thereupon the provisions of that sub-section shall apply as if for the expression ‘Central Government’ occurring therein, the expression ‘State Government’ was substituted.”
In regards to the accused Abdul Hasan, the court stated that the mobile phone and Jio SIM which was used for sending threatening message(s) to the office of Poknapham Daily is in prima facie originated from the shop of the accused. The handset/ mobile phone which was used for sending the threatening message(s) to Poknapham Daily Newspaper is also purportedly ordered online from the mobile phone of the accused and the same was received by the accused on February 16, 2021. It may be noted that the said mobile handset was recovered from Keithelmanbi area by the investigating agency later on and as informed it was found abandoned on the roadside by the person who later on activated the same by using a different mobile SIM number.
Accordingly, there is no “infirmity” in the prosecution story. However, prima facie it is seen that both the mobile phone and SIM card has a close connection with the accused and the same was originated from the shop of the said accused who is prima facie is involved in the manufacturing forged a document including Voter ID etc. for which a separate criminal case has been registered by Moirang Police Station.
