Cmdt, 8 Assam Rifles men held

Aizawl, May 5 

An Assam Rifles Commandant, Col Jasjit Singh, was today arrested for allegedly being involved in a highway robbery in which his men allegedly decamped with Rs 14.5 crore worth of gold bars smuggled from Myanmar.

Col Singh, the Commandant of the Aizawl-based 39th battalion, was suspended by Brig TC Malhotra, DIG (Range), Commander of the Aizawl-based 23 Sector of the Assam Rifles in Mizoram. 

The police alleged that Singh ordered his men, armed with sophisticated weapons, to waylay a consignment of smuggled gold biscuits on the outskirts of Aizawl city on the night of December 14 last year.

The robbery came to light when the driver of the vehicle, Lalnunfela, filed an FIR at the Aizawl police station on April 21 alleging that his vehicle was waylaid by armed people from the 39 Assam Rifles who, the police said, decamped with 52 gold biscuits worth Rs 14.5 crore. The fate of the stolen gold bars was not known.

Lalnunfela mentioned in the FIR that he was threatened at gunpoint by the assailants and was asked to keep his mouth shut, and it was only after being persuaded by his friends that he decided to inform the police.

The eight Assam Rifles jawans, accused of participating in the dacoity on December 14 and now in custody, reportedly told their interrogators that they committed the crime after receiving orders from the Commandant.

Singh today applied for anticipatory bail, which was rejected by District and Sessions Judge Lucy Lalrinthari and he was arrested on the court premises. Brig Malhotra refused to comment, saying the matter was “sub-judice”.

The police had arrested four people, including a former student leader and a businessman on April 23 and 24. — PTI