New Delhi: In July 2023, as the ethnic violence in Manipur raged on, cadres of insurgent group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) operating in the Imphal Valley, reportedly collected lakhs as “donations” from several politicians, according to documents recovered as ‘digital evidence’, now part of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate.
These included Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs Mayanglambam Rameshwar Singh, Yumnam Khemchand Singh and Kongkham Robindro Singh, the party’s state general secretary G.S. Premananda Meetei, Manipur Assembly Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, and Congress MLA Keisham Meghachandra Singh.
According to records accessed from the phones of UNLF cadre members—now part of ED’s chargesheet—Rameshwar gave Rs 8 lakh to the outfit, Khemchand gave Rs 3 lakh and Meghachandra gave Rs 50,000. Satyabrata, Robindro and Premananda gave Rs 2 lakh each.
Speaking to ThePrint, two of the six politicians, whose names are part of one document named ‘Donations’, however, refused to have made any such payments.
This money, “extorted” from the politicians, was used to train cadres, purchase arms, uniforms, travel to Myanmar, and procure drones to “exacerbate the ethnic unrest in Manipur”, sources in ED said. The agency found in its investigation that such funds were raised as “part of a larger conspiracy”.
According to the probe into a money-laundering case involving UNLF cadres operating in the Manipur valley, the group extorted crores from schools, colleges, training institutes, hospitals and individuals, including serving politicians, in the guise of “donations”.
“The valley based insurgent group has been threatening people to cough up money or face consequences. Cadre members extorted money saying that they were the ones protecting people from militants,” an ED officer told ThePrint.
“Funds worth crores were extorted by cadres of UNLF from the general public, politicians and businessmen, and lakhs were collected by way of unauthorised collection of toll taxes at national highways to fuel the ethnic unrest in Manipur.”
Crucial evidence was found in various documents titled ‘Arms Report’, ‘Arms Budget’, ‘Donation Report’, ‘Deily Collection (read, Daily Collection)’ and ‘Estimated budget for training arms and ammunition’ recovered from the digital devices of two alleged UNLF cadre members arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). This evidence forms part of a chargesheet submitted by the ED. ThePrint has a copy of the chargesheet.
Asked if the politicians mentioned in the document accessed from their phones will be called in to record a statement, the officer said, “Most people who gave money are victims of extortion. While some people have recorded statements and are protected witnesses, we have enough evidence to show how UNLF cadres collected funds by threatening people,” the officer said.
The ED had initiated its investigation into the matter in July 2023, based on a case registered by NIA.
The NIA’s case pertained to a “transnational conspiracy” hatched by Myanmar-based terror outfits, operationally active in the northeastern states, to “exploit the ethnic unrest in the state of Manipur” and “wage war against the Government of India”.
The ED had arrested two men—Thokchom Gyaneshor and Laimayum Anand Sharma—on 16 October under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) 2002, following which a chargesheet was filed on 12 December.
The UNLF is a proscribed terrorist organisation established in 1964 with the aim of separating Manipur from India.
‘Nothing to do with UNLF’
ThePrint contacted BJP MLA Khemchand for a comment on the inclusion of his name in the list of “donors” to UNLF.
He said that he has no idea how his name made it to the list. “It is unfortunate. I do not know how many names made it to that list. I have no relationship with the UNLF. I have never met any of their cadre members.”
Congress’s Meghachandra also said he had “no clue” how his name appeared on the list, but added that he suspected the names were planted by the Chief Minister’s Office to hurt the image of the said MLAs.
“All these names are of people who have been speaking against Chief Minister Biren Singh, despite being in the BJP. It appears that this list is a sort of a ploy to tarnish the image of the leaders who have opposed him openly,” he told ThePrint.
ThePrint also contacted BJP’s Rameshwar, Robindro and Premananda, and Assembly Speaker Satyabrata via phone calls and text messages. This report will be updated as and when the responses are received.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)