73 arrested, 6 rescued after cops bust 'sex racket' on BJP leader’s estate in Meghalaya

At least six children were rescued and 73 people arrested in Meghalaya on Saturday (July 23) after the West Garo Hill police found an alleged sex racket operating on the property of BJP state vice-president Bernard N Marak in Tura.

Police said they found a ‘brothel’ operating in Rimpu Bagan, a farmhouse owned by Marak after receiving a tip-off.

A case of “immoral trafficking” was filed against Marak.

“We have rescued six minors – four boys and two girls – who were found locked inside dingy cabin-like unhygienic rooms at Rimpu Bagan, run by Bernard N Marak and his accomplices as a brothel, for the purpose of prostitution,” West Garo Hills’ district superintendent of police Vivekananda Singh Rathode told the media.

Police said all the arrested people have been produced in court and the rescued children are in a state of shock and are unable to speak properly.

While police say they are looking for Marak, also known as Rimpu, the latter has said that he is not absconding and has completely cooperated with the police.

Marak, has also denied the allegations against him, accusing chief minister Conrad Sangma of orchestrating the whole thing.

He said the raid was conducted without a warrant and at the behest of Sangma who has allegedly abused the state machinery.

Marak, an elected member of the Garo Hill Autonomous District Council, has been sharing a rather strained relationship with the chief minister whose party (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) he has been attacking of late. The BJP is an ally of the MDA in Meghalaya.

“None of those detained was involved in any indecent activities. The police trespassed and harassed the minor students whom I was sponsoring to study and alleged them to be involved in sexual activities,” he told a news website.

“Matured individuals cannot be called a prostitute for partying and no homestay can be termed a brothel. Chief Minister has made things very personal by allowing police to frame human trafficking/prostitution over his own voters,” he said.

The Meghalaya unit of the BJP is yet to comment on the matter.

Police said the raid was conducted after a minor girl, who went missing for a week, told the court after being located that she and her friend were taken to Rimpu Bagan by Marak and his friend where she was sexually assaulted multiple times. A case under the POCSO Act was filed against Marak based on her complaint.

Police said apart from this case, several complaints were being received against the BJP leader by residents of Tura town about illegal activities going on in his farmhouse.