Lalrin Puia found Not Guilty 4 years after arrest

Lalrin Puia is a former junior desk Table Tennis champion. On 14th March 2022 he was acquitted by the Mumbai court, 4 years after his arrest.

Mizoram born Lalrin Puia won the Youth Boys title at the Junior and Youth Table Tennis Championships in 2015. He also represented India at the South Asian Junior Singles Championship.

He was caught smuggling 3.9 kgs of Methaqualone a banned psychotropic substance at the Mumbai airport and was subsequently jailed. The substance was adjudged to be worth Rs 60 Lakh. In his confession he said that “Mizo Aunty” a woman who stayed near him in Delhi asked him to get a packet from “Uncle Frank”.

He had to collect this packet from Maput and bring it to Mizo Aunty who would in return pay an expense covered trip to Mozambique and gift him a new phone.

Lalrin Puia collected the packet from Maput and flew to Adis Ababa and then to Mumbai. He was supposed to go to Delhi from Mumbai but, he was arrested at the Mumbai Airport for carrying the banned substance.

During interrogation he confessed that this was the first time he was smuggling the drug because Mizo Aunty had asked him to. Police were skeptical as to whether Lalrin Puia consumed the substance or was only a delivery guy. They sent a team to Delhi to investigate more.

4 years after his arrest Mumbai court has finally acquitted Lalrin Puia as he is found to be not guilty in this incident.

As for the future, Lalhmingliana Coleny stated that “We are very happy with the acquittal. We think justice has been finally done. If Lalrin Puia wants to return to the game, the association will support him in full”.