SHILLONG/TURA, July 24: The sensational police crackdown on BJP vice president Bernard Marak’s farmhouse at Tura on Friday, has got a political twist, with state BJP firmly standing by its beleaguered MDC, who is wanted by the police. BJP president Ernest Mawrie stuck his neck out in dubbing the police action as “political vendetta” implicating Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and NPP, even as Marak in a counter-offensive claimed that he was not absconding but merely trying to evade police who, he alleged, were trying to eliminate him.
In an email statement, the BJP leader said that on the night of the raid, the officer in-charge of Tura police station had called him and asked him to surrender at Sadar police station in Shillong but the moment he was coming out, three police vehicles approached him near Bethany Hospital at around midnight. Marak claimed that IGP (Law and order) MK Singh and West Garo Hills SP Vivekanand Singh were among the police personnel. “I hid because I had information earlier of their plan to gun me down. They are both close to the CM and they have been posted with a purpose as per information from reliable sources. They were given the task to gun me down and arrest BJP supporters. And the moment I saw Singh, I was sure that they were up to something so I moved out. Why would he come to where I was holding up and why should I take the risk?” Marak questioned.
He also stated that DGP LR Bishnoi’s video statement confirmed that they were tracking him in Shillong and Guwahati. He went on to state: “My life is under threat from the goons in the Police department; so I moved out that night and I avoided their execution plan.”
Marak also alleged that Singh had earlier gunned down four of his boys in a fake encounter at Darengagal in 2014 and had made several attempts to kill him when he was posted as SP of West Garo Hills.
“They don’t even honour the Agreed Text for Settlement signed by the A’chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) and the state and central governments. The settlement is yet to materialise. The conspiracy against me grew after I won from the CM’s Tura seat as MDC against his candidate last year. The support for BJP is growing in Garo Hills which has become a threat to the NPP and its chief,” the BJP vice president stated.
Marak added that he would cooperate with the investigation once he is ‘safe’.
Political vendetta
The BJP state machinery, including its president Ernest Mawrie, has thrown its full weight behind the under-fire party vice president and has termed the raid as ‘political vendetta’.
Mawrie dittoed Marak’s claim that the MDC was fearful for his life and requested the state government to protect the life of the BJP leader and also withdraw all charges against him which are laced with political motivations.
Condemning the raid, Mawrie said he spoke with renowned and respected individuals from Tura and surrounding areas and has come to the conclusion that Marak has been unjustly framed and maligned. He however did not name anybody.
According to Mawrie, the three-storied building which the police described as ‘brothel’ was a guest house, with the ground floor being used as a banquet hall which is rented out for the stated purpose. He pointed out the first floor comprises 30 rooms which are used as a home stay. The second floor is used as a hostel for underprivileged children from different areas of Garo Hills, adding these children have been staying since the pandemic and Marak has been supporting them financially as well.
“From amongst the children who were taken by the police, five are minors who are supported by Marak and studying in Edenbari School & Auxilium Convent School in Tura. Also, the caretaker’s wife and child were taken away by the police. A couple who runs a fast food centre on the premises was also taken (in) by the police,” Mawrie added.
Stating that the people arrested from the resort by the police on July 22 evening were guests who had paid for their stay, Mawrie said that the vehicles confiscated by the police on the same evening belonged to these guests.
According to him, the general public of Tura would often visit this resort during the weekends for picnics and also staying over. The guests staying at the resort come from respectable families and branding the resort a ‘brothel’ is highly objectionable and unacceptable.
He added that the young underprivileged children have also been shown in poor light.
The BJP’s Garo Hills unit has also termed the raid as an act of ‘political vendetta’ perpetrated by the NPP and its national president (Conrad Sangma) over fears of losing ground in Garo Hills and South Tura constituency in particular.
“Raiding his property and parental home without following the mandated procedure by DC, SP, DFO (Territorial) West Garo Hills, without warrant and when his aged mother was alone in the residence, is mental harassment which infused fear psychosis and is uncalled for as well as unjustified,” the party claimed in a statement on Sunday.
The party further claimed that the raid was meant to defame Marak and to weaken the BJP in Garo Hills as most people are accepting the BJP over NPP for change, growth and development.
“Marak was against corruption in GHADC and he spoke about it and gave maximum information to the general public regarding the corruption made by the NPP-led executive committee and this made Conrad Sangma and his party members act against him,” it alleged.
The party, while maintaining that the raid was pre-planned denied the existence of a ‘brothel’ or that any sex workers were among those who were picked up during the raid. The release also claimed that two of the minors picked up by the police – a student and a mentally-challenged person – were staying in the farmhouse.