IMPHAL, July 30: The Government of Manipur has challenged the bail granted to the seven accused including Army Public Relations Officer (PRO) Col Ajay Chowdhury in the Pallel Drug Seizure case in the High Court of Manipur.
A Special NDPS Court had on July 17 granted bail to three persons accused in the case, namely Ngairangbam Brojendro Singh, Ajay Chowdhury and RK Babloo, a few days after four other accused including Seikholen Haokip, the son of sitting Congress MLA, TN Haokip had been released on bail.
Sources have said that the state government has filed Criminal Revision Petitions against the bail orders in the High Court of Manipur.
It is also learnt that Y Rameshchandra Singh, Secretary (Law), government of Manipur of Secretariate, Law and Legislative Affairs had on July 24, 2013 issued an official notification No 5/32/2010-Case/1 (Pt) in this regard. Accordingly, the Public Prosecutor (High Court) while challenging the bail orders and representing the state government had filed the Criminal Revision Petitions on July 27 in the High Court of Manipur and the court has also declared a hearing date for the petition.
According to the official notification, the Kakching Police Station under Thoubal district had registered three separate cases in the Pallel Drug Case.
The cases are FIR No 26 (2) 2013 KCG PS u/s 21/25A/29/60/ND&PS Act & Section 140/136/170/465/34 IPC; FIR No 27 (2) 2013 KCG PS u/s 21/25A/29/60 ND&PS Act & Section 140/136/34 IPC and Fir No 28 (2) 2013 KCG PS u/s 21/25A/29/60 ND&PS Act & Section 140/136/170/465/34 IPC.
The cases on which the Judge of the Special Court ND&PS, Manipur had granted bail to one of the accused, Col Ajay Chowdhury in reference to the FIR cases registered by the Kakching Police Station are Criminal MISC (B) No 116 of 2013, Criminal MISC Case no 117 of 2013 and Criminal MISC Case No 118 of 2013.
All seven co-accused of the PRO Col Ajay Chowdhury had been granted bail following police substantiation on separate Criminal MISC Case, however, the order of the Secretary (Law) government of Manipur has directed the Public Prosecutor (High Court), Manipur to challenge the bail order of the ND&PS.
In the meantime, the Special Court (ND&PS), Manipur has rejected a petition from accused PRO (Defence) Col Ajay Chowdhury for permission to leave the state for a period from July 28 to August 1, informed a source.
One of the grounds on which the petition has been filed is that the son of the accused, namely Aditya Chowdhary has been selected for admission for the course of Marine Engineering at Tolani Maritime Institute, Induri, Talegaon, Pune for which counseling and admission process has to be undergone.