Meghalaya MLA arrested in sex racket case

Shillong, January 7

Meghalaya legislator Julius Dorphang, who was wanted for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, was arrested from his hideout in neighbouring Assam and remanded on Saturday in police custody for five days.

Dorphang was arrested past 11 o'clock last night from the Inter-State Bus Terminus on the outskirts of Guwahati in a joint operation with the Guwahati Metro police and was brought here early in the morning, SP (City) Vivek Syiem told PTI, adding that he had been remanded in custody.

He had been booked under the POCSO Act in connection with the sex-racket involving the minor girl last month, besides Section 366 (A) of the IPC and section 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), following which he had gone into hiding.

District and Sessions Judge E Kharumnuid sent the Independent legislator, who is supporting the ruling Congress in the state, to police custody for five days after he was produced before the court in the afternoon.

Police have also intimated Speaker Abu Taher Mondal about the arrest and the details of the cases pending against the legislator which he will be chargesheeted with, the SP (City) said.

The state police first booked the legislator on December 24 at Laitumkhrah Police Station in Shillong.

On January 4, the court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Dorphang, after which the manhunt began.

Following his arrest, police have so far picked up seven of the eight people named by the girl in her statement to the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Yesterday the police arrested Sandip Biswa, the driver, who ferried the minor girl to the guest houses owned by Home Minister H D R Lyngdoh's son and other guest houses in the city. — PTI