Meghalaya BJP vice-president Bernard N Marak, who was arrested last month on the charge of running a sex racket at his farmhouse in Tura, is not cooperating with the investigation, police said.
The former militant leader and now Tura MDC claimed during interrogation that he was operating the farmhouse as a homestay for around two years but does not know what is happening there in recent times as he did not visit it for the past three months, they said.
He also allegedly gave names of deceased people as caretakers of his farmhouse at Tura in West Garo Hills, from where 73 people were arrested and six minors were rescued on July 22.
The accused is not cooperating with the investigation. He has not revealed information on the illegal activities which were going on in the farmhouse, a senior police official told PTI.
On Friday, the police sought for six more days of custody and this was granted by a Tura court.
The police want to know how the proceeds from the allegedly illegal business were being used and how the weapons were procured.
A total of 35 gelatine sticks and 100 detonators, four crossbows and 15 arrows were seized from the farmhouse named Rimpu Bagan. Before that, the police recovered alcoholic beverages and condoms from the farmhouse on July 22.
Marak has admitted that he is the sole owner of Rimpu Bagan and he has been running it as a homestay since 2020, the police official said.
He was arrested on July 26 in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh, hours after the Meghalaya Police issued a lookout notice against him. The previous day a Tura court had issued a non-bailable warrant against the BJP leader.
The BJP is a part of the state’s ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), led by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma of the National People’s Party (NPP).
Marak, a militant-turned-politician, had earlier claimed he was innocent and alleged he was the target of a political vendetta by the CM and feared for his life. The state BJP has also backed his claim, while Sangma has denied it.
There were speculations that in next year’s Assembly elections, the saffron party will field Marak, who is a trenchant critic of the government, against Sangma.
