Thounaojam Brinda was Additional SP of Narcotics and Affairs of Border when the large quantity of drugs were seized in June 2018 during an operation in and around Imphal wherein Lhukhosei Zou, the then Chairman of Chandel Autonomous District Council and his team were arrested, it recounted.

Brinda took the decision to return the award after the Special Court (ND&PS) in Imphal on Thursday acquitted Lhukhosei Zou and six others stating that the prosecution has totally failed to prove the charges levelled against them. The court convicted two others, Thangminlun Zou from Churachandpur District and Tung Khan Mung Zou from Tengnoupal District, under the NDPS Act,1985 and the hearing of sentence is pending.

The CPI(M) also demanded an immediate investigation against the Investigation and Trial on the case by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to clear the controversy. Otherwise, the credibility of the Executive and Judiciary of the state may be tarnished, it said. It further said that Brinda was conferred the award on the occasion of Patriots' Day on August 13, 2018, in recognition for this case, her bravery and as a part of the Chief Minister’s ‘War on Drugs,’. 

She had said “I feel morally inclined that I have not conducted my duty as ‘per the wishes’ of the Criminal Justice Delivery System of the land. Hence, for the reasons cited above, I do not consider myself deserving of the honour bestowed upon me by your good self. I, therefore, return the same to the state Home Department so that it may be given to a more deserving and loyal police officer.”

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