Shillong (PTI): BJP leader Bernard N Marak was granted bail by the Meghalaya High Court in a case pertaining to the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl at his farmhouse in West Garo Hills district.

Marak, an elected member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and also the state BJP vice-president, was earlier granted bail in connection with the running of a brothel in the farmhouse and the seizure of arms and ammunition from the premises.

Passing the bail order on Monday in the final case pending against him related to the farmhouse, a single bench of Justice W Diengdoh observed that there was no direct evidence linking Marak to the alleged sexual assault of the child, and noted that the politician was confined on "very filmsy grounds".

The BJP leader was directed not to leave the country or try to tamper with the evidence, and asked to appear before the investigating officer as and when required, besides paying a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with two solvent sureties of like amount.

Disposing of the bail petition filed by the BJP leader's brother Tingku N Marak, the court stated that the accused was not apprehended along with the girl during a raid on his farmhouse, and to say that he is likely to be the offender only due to the fact that he is the owner of the property is "too far fetched".

"On consideration of the facts and circumstances involving the case of the accused brother of the petitioner, keeping in mind the value of liberty of a person who is confined in custody on very flimsy grounds, this court is of the opinion that the instant petition has some merits," it stated.

On July 26, Bernard N Marak was arrested from Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh after he allegedly absconded following the busting of a "sex racket" at his farmhouse that led to the rescue of 25 minors and arrest of 73 people.

The three-year-old girl was among those found in the farmhouse. Her medical examination confirmed that she was sexually abused and during further investigation, Marak was named among the accused.

However, the examination stated that sexual abuse perpetrated against her was not of recent origin. She has been placed in a children's home.

Following nearly a month in police custody, Marak was remanded to judicial custody, and he was in prison for the last three months.

Earlier, on October 1, the court granted bail to Marak in cases related to the farmhouse, while hearing a bail application filed by his wife L K Gracy.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.

Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.

Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.

In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.

The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.

That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.

Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.

Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.

But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.

Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.

Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.

They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.

However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.

The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.

But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.

It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.

But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.

Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.

Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).

The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.