IMPHAL, March 7: On the final day of the proceeding of the Supreme Court appointed Commission in Imphal, the statements of police personnel related to the case of Death of Nameirakpam Gobind Meetei and Nameirakpam Nobo Meetei- Huidrom Sukumar Singh, presently posted as Sub-Inspector of Police Imphal West, Pushpanjali (was SDPO of Lamphel Police Station) and the then IO of the case, were taken up and examined.
The Commission also took the statements of police personnel regarding the death of Elangbam Kiranjit case namely Hollal Haokip, Jamadar of Manipur Rifles; L Nilachandra, Sub-Inspector of Police (IO); and Laishram Birbabu Singh (IO), presently posted as Deputy Commandant of 1st Bn MR.
During the proceedings, the Counsel of the petitioner Mukul Sinha, Advocate on behalf of the complainant pointed out that from the post mortem report of the deceased Govind, there were five entry injuries from the front, four from the backside and rest of the injuries from the lateral side indicating that the victim was surrounded from all sides and shot at.
Sukumar, incidentally a recipient of the Police Gallantry Award announced in 2011 and received on 15 August 2012 replied that it was dark and he could not see anythin. When the Counsel stated that the night of encounter i.e April 4, 2009 was a full moon night, he replied that he did not know if it was a full moon night but it was possible that clouds might have covered the moon.
The then IO in the case, Pushpanjali stated the seized materials like the gun, empty cases and other such like materials were collected by the complainant himself (Sukumar) and was handed over to her which she re-seized. She said that she was not aware that removal of any material from the place of crime by any person other than the IO is a crime.
Sukumar was not authorized by her to do any part of the investigation, she said since he himself was the complainant. He had seized the material from the place of incident under Section 102 CrPC and she had re-seized the material with respect to the FIR registered in her Police Station, she stated.
During the cross examination, Pushpanjali said that she was not aware of any executive order on whether AR can operate in an area not covered by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The alleged extra judicial killing of Nameirakpam Gobind Meetei and Nameirakpam Nobo Meetei had taken place in Langol Games Village which has been denotified under the purview of the AR. The death of the two persons involved a joint team of police commandoes and the AR.
Later, as per a request made by Pushpanjali, one of her earlier statements made before the Commission was reframed as “I cannot say whether the three cases were fired from the AK-47 held by the CDOs or allegedly held by the suspects.”
During the cross examination of Hollal Haokip, he was asked what was so special that he received `reliable information` from 23 AR personnel at Yainganagpokpi (Senpati district) while he himself was posted at a commando post at Kakching in Thoubal district, two areas seperated by over 80 kms to which he replied that AR personnal liked him.
He first stated that he started at 12.45 am on April 24, 2009 from his own post and reached the post of 23 AR at Yaingangpokpi at 3 am. Then he stated that he received a second information at 3 am, following which he gathered his CDO team and proceeded from his post to Yaingangpokpi and reached there at about 4 am.
When confronted with the aforesaid affidavit filed by him before the Judicial Case no 6 of 2010, he retracted his earlier submission over the timing of his leaving the post and said that 12.45 am was the correct time. It was also disclosed that Hollal and his commando team had earlier been suspended in relation to the allegations regarding the death of Loitongbam Satish @ Tomba Singh in an alleged encounter on the night of 10/5/2009 at Laikot Village, an incident subsequent to the present incident of the death of Elangbam Kiranjit.
Today’s proceedings ended at 9 pm while the remaining proceedings of the Commission will commence from March 12, 2013 in Delhi.