Kangpokpi police recovered a vehicle that was allegedly robbed by a police officer by accusing the owner of being a drugs and arms trafficker, in one of the cities of the Northeast states last month.
On learning about the incident narrated by the victim to SP Kangpokpi Karthik Malladi, he immediately swung into action by sending one of his sub inspector Seigoulen Sitlhou of Kangpokpi police station by flight to recover the robbed vehicle.
The victim, Heljamang, a resident of Keithelmanbi Military Colony, Kangpokpi district while narrating the incident to the media said that the incident occurred on October 20 in one of the cities of the Northeast state where he purchased a second hand Hyundai i20 from a second-hand showroom through a dealer after verification for Rs 4,80,000.
He said that after purchasing the vehicle, he kept it for servicing at a servicing centre on October 20 as he had a long drive ahead to Manipur. However, at around 4:00 pm on the same day, while he was staying at the flat of his relative, the second-hand car dealer called him over the phone to come down from the flat. As he came down, a police team led by an inspector, an officer-in-charge of the locality, forcefully handcuffed him and took to a police station in a police vehicle, he added.
On reaching the police station, the officer-in-charge started questioning for several hours asking him where he is hiding the drugs and arms he brought with him which the victim told the police officer that he came to buy a second-hand car and the same is given for servicing and he has no knowledge about drugs and arms, he said.
The victim also said that he had shown the sales deed and other documents pertaining to the car he had purchased to the police officer. The police officer even threatened him with his life if he did not disclose where he was hiding the drugs as arms, he alleged.
The victim further narrated that he was illegally detained in a lock-up for a night and his whereabouts were not informed to anyone including his family.
According to him, on the next day i.e. on October 21, the police team took him to the vehicle servicing centre where he kept his car and they took him along with the car to a nearby second-hand car dealer where he was forcefully made to sign on a black sale deed before robbing his car.
Then, he was taken to a bus terminal and was forced to get in a bus headed to Manipur warning him not to stop anywhere until he reached Manipur, he alleged. After reaching home and persuasion from his family, he gathered the courage to inform about his ordeals and incidents to the SP Kangpokpi, he added.
SP Kangpokpi while assuring the victim to recover his vehicle immediately swung into action by sending an officer by flight to the place of occurrence on Friday to enquire into the chain of events and hopefully, to recover the vehicle.
The sub inspector under the supervision of SP Kangpokpi, who with the assistance of senior IPS officers of that state, managed to recover the robbed vehicle on Friday evening. The recovered vehicle was brought to Kangpokpi on Saturday where SP Kangpokpi handed over the vehicle to the victim.
Heljamang thanked the SP Kangpokpi for a swift recovery in 48 hours and lauded the sincere efforts of the district police for helping him recover his robbed vehicle.
Meanwhile, SP Kangpokpi Karthik Malladi said that the presumption towards Manipuris as drug and arms traffickers is outrageous and Manipur police will not tolerate any harassment, illegal detentions, robbery, etc. to the innocent people out of such presumptions.
He then urged the people of Manipur to report any such instances of harassment, illegal detentions, robbery, etc. in any other state to the Manipur police while assuring that all help will be extended.
He also said that the Kangpokpi police control room can be reached at 9612700785 and 9362153322.
