Manipur violence: All five arrested village defence volunteers released on bail

A special court in Manipur has granted bail to all five village defence volunteers who were arrested earlier by the state police for possessing sophisticated weaponry.

Further, all the accused persons are hereby released on bail on their
furnishing a PR bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of like amount with certain conditions.

The accused persons are directed to appear before the IO of the case every 15 days as well.

Earlier on September 17, Manipur Police successfully apprehended five individuals found in possession of sophisticated weaponry while wearing camouflage uniforms. Legal proceedings are now underway against these individuals.

However, following the arrests, a large number of people gathered to protest and attempted to besiege the Porompat Police Station, demanding the release of the detained individuals. 

Also Read: Manipur violence: Angry mob attempt to storm police stations over arrest of village volunteers, police resort to tear gas

In response to the escalating situation, joint security forces were compelled to employ tear gas to disperse the crowd. This action resulted in minor injuries, including one Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel.

The five arrested individuals have since been presented before a Judicial Magistrate and subsequently remanded into further police custody. Police are taking rigorous legal measures against these anti-social elements.

The brief fact of the case is that the accused persons were arrested from Kongba Wangkhei Road near Meitei Mayek School upon conducting frisk and checking. 

The accused persons were driving l (one) white Bolero coming from Wangkhei towards Irilbung in a very suspicious manner. Due to the suspicious driving mode, the bolero was detained for checking and verification. 

On checking the bolero, the 5(five) accused persons were found wearing camouflage dress. 

On searching the vehicle, (i) l (one) INSAS Rifle bearing no 18531215 having 4(four) magazines with 78 live rounds, (ii) l (one) SLR rifle bearing no 58478 having 3(three) magazines with 50 live rounds and (iii) 2 (two) .303 Rifles bearing no. D91642 and E90617 with l (one) magazine each containing 5 live rounds in each magazine were found hiding inside the back seat.