Officer facing probe in alleged disproportionate assets case seeks transfer of case from Imphal, alleges he was framed by fellow officer with ‘militant links’
New Delhi: A suspended Army officer, facing a CBI probe in an alleged disproportionate assets case, has claimed to receive death threats and Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case from a sessions court in Imphal to Chandigarh.
This is the second time that Lt Col Harpreet Singh, who had been deputed to the Assam Rifles’ intelligence wing in 2009, has moved the top court seeking a transfer of the case. The court had dismissed his earlier plea in March this year.
In his latest petition, Singh, who was suspended in 2018, said when he went to Imphal to answer court summons in April, he received death threats on his mobile phone as soon as he landed. Fearing for his life, he lodged an FIR at the local police station, proceeded towards the airport and returned to Pathankot.
“The petitioner is on the radar of the major insurgent groups operating in and around Manipur and faces serious threat to his life… (and) surely be killed by the insurgent groups if he has to go to Imphal for the court proceedings,” Singh’s petition reads.
Senior advocate S.P. Singh mentioned the matter before a vacation bench of Justices A.K. Goel and Ashok Bhushan, which posted the matter for when court reopens in July.
‘Framed by fellow officer’
Singh has also alleged that he has been framed in the corruption case, allegedly by another Army officer — Lt Col T.H. Luwang Cha — who he claims is related to Robin Luwang Cha, the chief of the banned militant outfit, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Lt Col T.H. Luwang Cha was then with the vigilance wing of the Assam Rifles.
In his petition, Singh claims that during a seven-year tenure in Manipur, his network of informers led to the surrender and capture of at least 100 ultras belonging to various militant groups in the state.
Singh, who is 60 per cent disabled due to injuries sustained in operations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara sector, claims that during his deputation, his attempts to collect information on the PLA leader irked Lt. Col Luwang Cha.
“He (Lt. Col Luwang Cha) had vested interests in the highly secretive and sensitive intelligence operations being carried out and used to interfere with the vigilance department in Manipur,” Singh’s petition reads, adding that Luwang Cha would allegedly hamper anti-insurgency operations and “often leaked sensitive information that led to the failure of several sensitive operations”.
Singh, whose petition says he was awarded the Sena Medal (gallantry) in 2002, claims that when he flagged the matter with his superiors, Luwang Cha filed the corruption complaint against him.
An FIR was lodged with the CBI in Kolkata and Singh was charged under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. He challenged the FIR in the Calcutta High Court, which, he says, granted him a stay and in due time, transferred the matter to Imphal, where the trial is now on going in a sessions court.
Singh’s petition states that since the case was flagged, Luwang Cha was transferred from Manipur to Allahabad and that his current status and whereabouts are unknown.