Shillong, July 24: Tura MDC Bernard Marak, who is accused of running a brothel at his farmhouse in Tura, West Garo Hills, said on Sunday that he is neither absconding nor evading arrest but is trying to save himself from being gunned down by the police.
In statement, Marak said, “The night when they conducted raid, OC of Tura called me and asked me to surrender at Sadar police station in Shillong but the moment I was coming out, two boleros and one gypsy approached me near Bethany Hospital around 12 midnight and I was pretty sure it was M.K.Singh, IGP law and order. So I hid myself because I had an information earlier of their plan to gun me down. M.K.Singh and Vivekananda Rathore, SP of Tura are both CM’s close men 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 are upto something so I moved out. Why would he come to where I was holding up and why should I take the risk? Further, DGP’s video statement confirmed that they were tracking me in Shillong and Guwahati. My life is in threat from the goons in the police department so, I moved out that night and I avoided their execution plan. Singh, earlier gunned down four of my boys in a fake encounter at Darengagal in 2014. He made many attempts to gun me down when he was SP of Tura”, Bernard alleged.
They don’t even honour the Agreed Text for Settlement signed by ANVC, the state and Centre. Till now the ATS didn’t materialise, he said.
“The conspiracy against me was there even after signing of ATS and it grew after I won CM’s Tura seat as Member of District Council (MDC) against his candidate last year. The support for BJP grew in Garo Hills which has become a threat to NPP and its chief. The raid at my farm was done when I was in Shillong so that I could be preyed on here as they knew I always travelled alone. It was a trap so I had to move out to safety but they were tracking me. Even now, they are destroying the shops and digging around my farm with JCB with sole intention to destroy source of livelihood which I provided to others. In a Sixth Schedule area police over exercised their power against the tribals. They tagged the boys and girls as prostitutes and a simple home stay a brothel”, Bernard said.
According to Marak, who is also the vice president of the BJP, NPP always targeted him and even the NPP-led Executive Committee deprived him of all facilities in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) even after winning as a BJP candidate.
“They would allot me a mere Rs 10 lakh scheme to the biggest constituency Tura, while they would keep almost 1 crore each. NPP treated BJP step-motherly and deprived our supporters of any facilities even the basic schemes. They even evicted the families of BJP supporters at Diringga in Tura to extend the MP Stadium inspite of case filed in Hon’ble High Court. While in other case the NPP MDCs issued patta to their supporters while BJP supporters in my area is ignored , they don’t want my comeback as it would mean end to NPP chief’s political carrier”, he alleged.
Stating that he is a man of faith and God will ensure the truth from the highest level, Bernard said, “I sent a mail to SP Tura and DGP stating that I m not absconding nor am I evading arrest. I will co-operate with the investigation once I m back on safe route”.
