TURA, Oct 1: In a major development, the High Court of Meghalaya has granted Bernard Marak (alias Rimpu) conditional bail in two cases that came up for hearing in Shillong on Friday.
The two cases in which bail was granted related to Arms Act as well as that of immoral trafficking.
Bernard had earlier secured bail in the case filed against him on extortion that led to price rise through his alleged control of the Meghalaya Chamber of Commerce, a trader’s body from the town of Tura.
The application for bail was filed by the wife of the accused, who approached the High Court following the rejection of bail from the Sessions Court in Tura, West Garo Hills. Bernard was represented in Court by advocate Angshuman Bora while the state was represented by senior counsel ND Chullai.
While the case under Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act was filed against Bernard a day after a raid on his farmhouse on July 22, the case under Arms Act was filed by West Garo Hills Police a week after. Bail in both cases has been set at Rs 50,000. Two other cases under which Bernard has been accused under POCSO Act are likely to be heard after the puja holidays.
Earlier this week, another case under POCSO Act was added to the list of allegations against the Tura MDC. This was in addition to another case filed against Rimpu on July 23 under POCSO Act.
