Manipur ASP, who made accusations against CM Biren Singh, detained for ‘flouting lockdown’

Thounaojam Brinda, who was detained for 2 hours, had said earlier this month that Manipur CM N. Biren Singh had ‘pressurised’ her to release a drug lord.

Manipur Additional Superintendent of Police Thonaujam Brinda | Photo: Facebook

New Delhi: Additional Superintendent of Police Thounaojam Brinda, who made news earlier this month for her allegations that Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh “pressured” her to release a drug lord, was detained by the police for two hours for allegedly flouting lockdown protocols in Sangaiprou area in Imphal West district Monday night.

Brinda was travelling in a car with two others, who were also detained with her at Kwakeithel, FCI Crossing.

A statement issued by Imphal West district SP K. Meghachandra said he was informed by his counterpart in Kakching that a woman in a white Hyundai Verna who identified herself as an Additional SP, drove away before proper verification was done.

“An alert was issued to all district border checkpoints, including the control room and night duty officers of Imphal West,” the statement read.

Meghachandra also alleged that the occupants of the vehicle did not “cooperate” with police, refused to provide details of their travel and also exhibited a “hostile attitude”. An additional police team was called in to check the vehicle.

“The objective was to verify if they have visited any person in the containment zones, particularly in the five districts they visited yesterday,” the Imphal West district SP said.

‘Motive is clear’

Brinda, however, claimed she was detained because she took the Chief Minister’s name in the “drug scandal”.

“I am still a police officer; something they have forgotten after transferring me from the Narcotics and Affairs of Border department to the Imphal Police Headquarters, and keeping me on compulsory waiting with no tasks assigned,” Brinda told ThePrint.

“The motive is clear… All of this is because I had spoken against CM Biren Singh, who was pressuring me to release an arrested drug lord. I will not succumb to this ‘higher mandate’. I will not join my new posting; it’s blatant injustice,” she said “I will keep on working to expose the drug cartels, I have evidence and will keep on collecting it. No one can ever stop me.”

Brinda wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday that the “Imphal West Police and Kakching Police detained three of us” at Kwakeithel, FCI Crossing, from 12.40 am till 2.40 am. Initially, she said, the police refused to identify themselves and explain the charges for the detention.

She went on to add that her husband arrived and requested the police to let them off after paying a fine, since they were all women. But they refused and said Lamphel Police was coming to arrest them. After long arguments by Babloo Loitongbam, Human Rights Alert, who was accompanying her husband, “we were let off at 2.40 am of 28/07/2020”, she stated.

Brinda said she and her companions were surrounded by heavily armed officers in uniform with carbines and AKs, in bullet-proof cars with mics.

“I was travelling from Kakching to Imphal. I was out investigating a drug trail that comes from Burma into Sugnu, Kakching through the Kasom Khullen when we were stopped at the FCI Crossing at 12:40 am. The officers who detained us refused to tell me, even though I am still a police officer, as to why they have detained us. It was only after an hour of parading us, did they reveal that it’s due to curfew violation, but there were so many other cars plying, none got stopped. Lockdown in Manipur is a joke,” she told ThePrint.

Brinda also posted a video saying that other vehicles on the road were let off without stopping them.

Vehicle plying and let off without stopping.

Thounaojam Brinda यांनी वर पोस्ट केले सोमवार, २७ जुलै, २०२०

“They tried to intimidate me saying that the Lamphel Police are on their way to arrest me. If this isn’t a criminal conspiracy to shut me down, what is?” Brinda added.

However, Imphal’s Inspector General of Police K. Jayanta Tuesday said, in response to Brinda’s Facebook post, that the police weren’t surveilling Brinda, and that there was no intention to target her.

ThePrint also approached Imphal West SP Meghachandra and Manipur DGP L.M. Khaute through calls and messages to ask about the enforcement of the lockdown in the state, and on allegations that other vehicles were let off easily. But they didn’t respond until this report was published.

Brinda’s allegations against CM

Brinda, a 2012 batch Manipur Police Service officer, has been in the crosshairs with the state government after she accused Manipur CM Biren Singh and the police brass of “pressuring” her to release an alleged drug baron, Lhukhosei Zhou, in an affidavit she filed in the Manipur High Court on 13 July.

The CM rubbished the allegations, calling them “baseless” and saying he would fight them in the court. ThePrint also approached the CM’s office but couldn’t get in touch with him.

In her court affidavit, a copy of which has been accessed by ThePrint, Brinda had narrated how she had been pressurised to release the drug lord, who was serving as chairman of the Autonomous District Council (ADC), Chandel. She claimed she was also told to withdraw the chargesheet filed against him and others in court.

Brinda said Zhou was arrested along with seven others in June 2018 for possession of heroin, narcotic pills and Rs 5.81 lakh in cash, along with demonetised currency.

Her affidavit was in response to criminal contempt charges filed against her by the Manipur High Court in June for “offensive” remarks on Facebook, undermining and criticising the judiciary after Zhou was granted three week bail by the court of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance Act, for allegedly threatening a witness in the court of special judge and pointing her “middle finger” at him on 21 May. A copy of these contempt charges is also with ThePrint.

In her affidavit, Brinda asserted that her remarks weren’t aimed at obstructing or interfering with the due course of justice or the administration of law, but a “fair criticism on the conduct and character of the judicial officer/individual”, who was acting “as a judge but didn’t have respect for the chair.” She denied showing her “middle finger” or “threatening the witness”.

A mother of four, Brinda was, in 2018, awarded by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry for her outstanding performance in busting several drug rackets. She was also awarded the Gallantry Medal in 2018. She joined the police in 2013.

Brinda now says she won’t assume her new posting, but instead wait for the authorities to “terminate” her.