On Tuesday, a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigators conducted a raid at the residence of Manipur Congress MLA Yamthong Haokip in the Mantri Pukhuri area of Imphal and discovered five pistols.
One of the pistols recovered was the missing weapon stolen from the DG pool kote within the premises of 2nd Manipur Rifles, which had gone missing between September 2016 and early 2017. The NIA has been investigating cases related to the disappearance of 56 pistols and 58 magazines from the DG pool kote located within the premises of 2nd Manipur Rifles Battalion.
During the raid, Haokip, who was present at his house, complained of chest pain and had to be rushed to the hospital. He is currently in ICU recovering while the NIA sleuths await an opportunity to interrogate him about the 9mm pistol bearing number 18506735 with a magazine, which was the missing weapon found in his residence.
There is a possibility of his arrest in connection with the case. Apart from the missing 9mm weapon, other firearms were also discovered, including a made in USA Beretta Pistol with an expired license, an unlicensed 9mm made in Italy weapon (Pietro Beretta Gardone), a DBBL gun with License number L/981(KPI) renewed up to 31 December 2014, and an SBBL gun without any mark of identification.
Additionally, the investigators found 22 rounds of live ammunition for a 0.32 pistol, 15 rounds of live ammunition for a 9mm pistol, 04 rounds of live ammunition for a 7.62 rifle, and 04 rounds of live ammunition for a 7.62X39 (AK series).
The case was filed on March 30 this year after a written complaint was lodged by P Manjit Singh, Commandant, 2nd Bn, Manipur Rifles, regarding the missing 56 pistols, which were heavily guarded.
Previously, the Manipur government had purchased a consignment of 570 numbers of 9mm pistols on September 11, 2014, for use by the State’s security forces. The case was transferred to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who requested the Centre to hand over the case to NIA for a thorough investigation.
NIA registered the case on June 1, this year. During the investigation, nine individuals were arrested, and three 9mm pistols out of the 56 missing ones were recovered from members of various militant groups in Manipur. The custodial interrogation of the accused revealed the involvement of Yamthong Haokip, the MLA from Saikul assembly constituency.
As a result of the missing pistols from the armoury of the Manipur Rifles (MR) garrison, the State Government had earlier suspended four of its senior police officers, including an IPS officer.
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