Shillong, Aug. 8: Detained Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) “chairman” Champion R. Sangma is planning to move a bail petition following his arrest on July 30.

“He (Champion) has asked me to prepare a bail petition and the same would be placed before the court of deputy commissioner (judicial) in the next few days,” advocate Sujit Dey said after meeting the GNLA chief at an undisclosed location today.

Dey was appointed as Champion’s counsel on August 3 after he was “arrested” on July 30 from the Umkrem-Pyrdiwah area in East Khasi Hills along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

On the day of his arrest, a court had remanded him to 15 days’ police custody. The advocate also said he would draft the bail petition, which would be then shown to his client before submitting to the court.

Champion, a former Meghalaya deputy superintendent of police, has a case registered against him at Pynursla police station in the East Khasi Hills. He has been booked under Sections 120/120A/120B/121 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Section 120 of the IPC relates to concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment, Section 120A is on criminal conspiracy, Section 120B relates to punishment of criminal conspiracy, and Section 121 is about waging, attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the country.

Dey had earlier said that the sections under which Champion had been booked were “serious” and “non-bailable”.

On the petition submitted to the state police where Champion had requested that his lawyer should be present at the time of his interrogation, Dey said so far he has not received any intimation from the police in relation to the submission made by his client.

In late 2009, Champion was reported to have left the police force to float the militant outfit along with former A’chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) leader Sohan D. Shira.