Updated: December 18, 2020 8:33:49 pm
Chief Minister Biren Singh, and then Additional SP (Narcotics) Thounaojam Brinda. (File photo)
An additional Police Superintendent in the Manipur police force returned his ‘Chief Minister’s Gala Medal’ awarded to him by the state as part of CM’s “War on Drugs” campaign.
The development comes a day after the special court of the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) in Manipur acquitted former ADC chairman of Chandel Lukhosei Zou and another six in a high profile drug transport case in 2018.
Th. Brinda, who was then the additional SP of the NAB police station, had led the operation that led to the arrest of Lukhosei Zou and seven others allegedly with a large loot of drugs, in cash on June 19, 2018 The drugs seized in the series of raids were worth more than 27 million rupees on the international market.
“In recognition of this case as part of the honorable Chief Minister’s ‘War on Drugs’, I was awarded the Chief Minister’s police medal for gallantry on the occasion of Patriot Day on August 13, 2018. However, the investigation and prosecution have been found unsatisfactory by the honorable court of ND&PS. I feel inclined not to have fulfilled my duty according to the ‘wishes’ of the country’s Criminal Justice System. Therefore, for the reason cited above, I do not consider myself worthy of the honor that your good self has bestowed on me. Therefore, I return it to the state Department of the Interior so that it can be turned over to a more dignified and loyal police officer, ”Brinda stated in a letter addressed to the Chief Minister.
Th Brinda is the first narcotics police officer in Manipur’s history to receive the medal of gallantry.
On Thursday, the NDPS court acquitted the former ADC chairman and six others, stating that the prosecution has not been able to prove its accusation against the defendants. However, two other detainees in the same case were convicted. Zou was elected a member of the district council from the congressional list and later joined the BJP to form the local body government in Chandel. He was expelled from the party after the incident.
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