After ‘brothel’ charges, Bernard Marak now booked under Explosives Act

Shillong: Bernard Marak, the BJP leader who was arrested on Tuesday from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, after Meghalaya Police raided his farmhouse and accused him of running a ‘brothel’, will now also be booked under Explosives Act.

On Thursday, a team of the District Child Protection Unit and Meghalaya Police visited the controversial farmhouse ‘Rimpu Bagan’ to collect the clothes and books of the rescued children. During this exercise, they found one small door-like structure. When this door was broken, several explosives and other weapons were recovered. This included 35 gelatin sticks (explosive substance), 100 detonators, four cross-bows and 15 arrows. 

All the items were seized in presence of independent witnesses and shall be produced in court shortly, the police said. 

“We will be adding charges under Explosives Substances Act, 1908 against Bernard N. Marak,” said the police. 

On Wednesday, a court in Uttar Pradesh granted the Meghalaya Police a two-day transit remand of BJP vice-president Bernard N Marak.

A former militant leader, Marak had gone missing following a police raid which started on 22 July night and ran till the next morning at the farmhouse at Tura in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district.

The West Garo Hills district administration has instituted a magisterial inquiry into the incident leading to the arrest of the BJP vice president, a senior official said.

Marak is facing charges under various sections of the IPC and the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956. He has more than 25 criminal cases registered against him since the early 2000s across the northeastern state.

Marak was the chairman of the now-disbanded armed rebel group ANVC(B), a breakaway faction of the Achik National Volunteer Council, before he joined the BJP and won the tribal council elections from Tura.

Also Read: Meghalaya: Inside Rimpu Bagan, the ‘brothel’ that led to BJP leader’s arrest