NIA attach properties of Manipur Congress MLA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached properties worth Rs. 76.6 lakh belonging to a Congress MLA in Manipur, who was arrested on charges of illegally "procuring" police weapons and distributing them among militant groups.

The NIA said the MLA, Yamthong Haokip, who was arrested in August last year, had handed over the arms to the militant groups to “wage war against the state.”

A statement issued by the NIA on Friday evening said a house in the name of Haokip and his wife, situated near Imphal was attached following an investigation into the case.

Haokip, who represented Saikul Assembly constituency, was arrested after the theft of 56 pistols and 58 magazines from the state police headquarters in 2016-17. The NIA had, on July 30, recovered one of the stolen 9mm pistols from Haokip's house, Mantri Pukhuri, Imphal.

The agency also recovered nine 9mm pistols from the house of Soson Haokip, chief of United Kuki Liberation Front, a militant group in ceasefire. The agency arrested nine militants and recovered 20 pistols stolen from the arms kote of 2nd Manipur Rifles, Imphal, located on the premises of the police headquarters.

The NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet on January 25 against the MLA, David Hangshing, (chairman of Kuki Revolutionary Army, a militant group), Lhunkhoson Haokip (chairman of United Kuki Liberation Front, another militant group) and the Haokip’s driver Th Diamond Singh. The accused are now in judicial custody.

The BJP government in Manipur had in March last year decided to hand over the case to the NIA, stating that "national security" was involved in weapons going missing from the state police headquarters.