The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West on Thursday denied bail to AirAsia assistant security officer who was arrested in connection with a case of seizing 65 pieces of gold bars weighing 10.79 kg and worth Rs 5,76,72,550 in the market from Imphal International airport on April 24.
The court remanded assistant security officer Thangjam Rajesh Kumar, 38, son of Th Meghachandra of Chingmeirong West, Imphal East district in 15-day judicial custody till June 23.
Assistant security officer Rajesh was arrested by police on June 8, following an investigation launched by Anti-Smuggling Unit, Imphal Customs Division regarding the seizing of the said gold bars from the possession of one Wangkhem Ibungobi, 33, son of Wangkhem Babaton of Awang Khunou Maning Leikai, Imphal West on April 24, 2022.
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Wangkhem Ibungobi has been in judicial custody since then in connection with the case.
It may be mentioned that the gold bars of foreign origin were recovered from the possession of Ibungobi at Imphal International airport by a staff of the anti-smuggling unit of Customs Division and staff of an AirAsia flight which was scheduled to proceed to Delhi.
Concerning Ibungobi’s case, the investigating officer submitted that during interrogation, it came to light that the accused came to Imphal from Shillong on April 20 to meet his mother and stayed at his step father's residence located at Awang Khunou, and on April 23 he was contacted by one Rocky to book a flight to Delhi on April 24.
The same night as per instruction of Rocky, he went to Singjamei Supermarket and met him. There, Rocky handed Ibungobi a piece of paper as a token with an inscription and instructed him to meet another person. The investigating officer further submitted that Ibungobi gave the token to an unknown person at Keishamthong, and the unknown person handed over the luggage to carry the language to Delhi in a flight.
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Meanwhile, with further investigation into the case, the police was able to arrest the assistant security officer of AirAsia for supporting and helping Ibungobi in committing the alleged offences of carrying gold.
However, the counsel of assistant security officer Rajesh submitted before the court for releasing him on bail, stating that the charge levelled against Rajesh was wrongly implicated and he never committed any such offences.
The counsel further submitted that the allegation raised by the prosecution was absolutely concocted and a false story in order to corner Rajesh without any reason.
Counsel further clarified before the court that Rajesh happened to be engaged at the Baggage Make Up area (BMA) and coincidentally, he was found to be at the X-ray allocation area. “The real fact is that while Rajesh was doing his duty at his allocation, he was called by one of his friends for assistance as he had some issues at the check-in counter. But when he returned, the person was already in the security hall area but his baggage being returned to X-ray for screening,” the counsel stated.
The counsel prayed for releasing Rajesh into bail, stating that he has been falsely implicated in the case.
The court after hearing the submission remanded him in 15 day judicial custody for smooth and thorough investigation of the case.
