The state government has had no part to play in the raid on Tura MDC Bernard Marak’s farmhouse on Friday, with the police acting independently, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said today.
Marak is one of the fiercest critics of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government and is thought to be considering a run against Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in the South Tura constituency at next year’s state elections.
Questioned by reporters on the sidelines of another event, Tynsong today repeatedly said that the law must take its own course and that the government is not interfering in the investigation.
Marak and the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of which he is the state vice-president, have blamed a political vendetta for the raid.
“This is the normal job of the police department,” Tynsong said. “On receipt of specific information, they raided the place. It so happens that it belongs to a politician and they (Marak and the BJP) have tried to politicise it.”
The law applies to all and the government is not vindictive enough to manufacture such a case against an opponent, he added. “Just because he is an opponent of the Chief Minister does not mean that we are scared of him.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy CM said that an independent inquiry could be constituted if required but, right now, the priority is for the police to complete their investigations.
Marak, whose whereabouts are unknown, was requested by police to turn himself in but declined, saying that he feared that he would be killed in a fake encounter. This idea was also rubbished by Tynsong. “This is being politicised by him. If you are being ill treated by police, then why not come out before and file an FIR? Why say it only after the raid? We are not here as a government to be vindictive. We are here to apply the law and let it take its own course,” he stated.
On why it took police several months between the rape of the girl and the raid on the farmhouse, Tynsong defended the force, saying that it had needed to do due diligence and could not have launched a raid without strong information.
Meanwhile, he played down any thought of the BJP bringing pressure to bear on the government to drop the investigation into Marak; the BJP is a junior partner in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.
“The BJP is part of the MDA government but we will not stop the police in conducting the investigation. Even if there is pressure or no pressure from the BJP,” Tynsong said.
