Manipur Congress MLA, With Drug Case Involvement, Joins Saffron Party :The Wire
Via https://thewire.in/politics/manipur-congress-okram-henry-singh-biren-bjp-ram-madhav
Former CM Ibobi Singh’s nephew joined BJP in the presence of Ram Madhav, Baijayant Panda and N. Biren Singh. Investigations in his case are ongoing.
ongress Party (MSCP) MLA from Imphal East’s Wangkhei constituency, got off his vehicle in front of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (ND&PS) court in Imphal’s Lamphelpat area. Accompanied by his security escorts, Henry entered the special court.
A nephew of the then chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Henry was summoned to the special court in a drug haul case hearing. Henry was one of the five persons charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s Kolkata unit in a case related to the seizing of a huge consignment of drugs at the Imphal airport on January 11, 2013.
The consignment was reportedly brought to the Imphal airport from Kolkata in an Air Deccan flight.
Soon after the drug haul, a special investigating team of the state police was formed to probe the matter but investigation was later handed over to the central agency. Charges were framed against Henry and five others by the CBI on May 22, 2017, barely two months after the BJP-led government took over. Regular hearings have taken place since.
In the run-up to the state assembly polls in April 2017, the issue of Henry’s alleged involvement in the drug haul was highlighted by the opposition parties. The BJP, trying to unseat the 15-year-old Congress government, had made it a poll issue and used it as ammunition against the chief minister, Ibobi Singh. The party promised to clean the border state of the drug menace, an issue of concern to the general public.
