The Manipur government has withdrawn the Chief Minister’s Gallantry Medal conferred on a police Sub-Inspector, suspended him, and ordered a high-level inquiry after his alleged arrest in a 2013 drug trafficking case was pointed out, officials said here on Monday.
A Manipur Home Department official said that Sub-Inspector Bheishamayum Debson Singh, who received the gallantry award, and Inspector E Roshan Singh, who processed the selection of awardees, were suspended and an inquiry ordered.
“A committee headed by Inspector General of Police (intelligence) K Radhashyam will inquire into the matter in depth,” a Home Department release said on Sunday night.
Despite attempts, Manipur Director General of Police LM Khaute was not available for comments.
According to an official notification, on the occasion of Manipur’s Patriot Day on August 13, Governor Najma Heptulla had announced the 13 names for the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Gallantry and seven names for Chief Minister’s Police Medal for devotion to duty.
These medals are given every year to police personnel for their outstanding performance to commemorate Manipuri heroes who sacrificed their lives in the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891.
The entire matter was brought to light on Sunday by the influential All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU), which demanded a “high-level probe into the antecedents of all police personnel” named in the awardees’ list.
The Home Department thanked the AMSU for bringing the matter to notice, and issued a media release on the official inquiry into the matter.
The AMSU press release issued by its Publicity and Information Secretary Lhunpao Lupheng said that accused SI Bheishamayum Debson Singh was arrested along with an 11-member team of Manipur Police commandos on the charge of trafficking drugs valued at more than Rs 3.64 crore in 2013.
“The AMSU cannot understand how the Chief Minister (N Biren Singh), who eloquently elaborated on the issue of “war against drugs” during his Independence Day speech, could confer gallantry award on a police official caught red-handed for drug trafficking. The AMSU hopes and prays that the much-flaunted ‘war against drugs’ is not turned into a ‘war for drugs’,” the release added.
