GUWAHATI: Rape accused rebel leader-turned-Meghalaya MLA, Julius Dorphang, was sent to five days police custody by a local court in Shillong on Saturday, hours after his arrest in Guwahati.
He was arrested from near the Inter State Bus Terminus on the outskirts of Guwahati by a team of Meghalaya Police, assisted by Assam Police.
The police had been conducting searches for him in Guwahati since Thursday evening following receipt of intelligence inputs that he was being sheltered by a former insurgent leader.
Dorphang, the Independent MLA from Mawhati constituency, who is supporting Meghalaya’s ruling Congress, went into hiding after he was booked under various Sections of IPC and POCSO Act for allegedly sexually exploiting a 14-year-old girl at a Shillong guest house, owned by the son of a senior Meghalaya minister. On Wednesday, a Shillong court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.
The victim had filed an FIR on December 16 accusing Dorphang of sexually exploiting her in the guest house the previous day. In the FIR, she named at least eight persons. The case came to light after a waiter of the guest house was arrested for allegedly trafficking the victim.
Dorphang is the founder-chairman of banned rebel outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council. He gave up arms in 2007 following differences among its leaders.