Meghalaya Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president, Bernard N Marak has been arrested by the police in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

Marak who had been accused of running a brothel was on the run since Saturday.

According to Meghalaya DGP, LR Bishnoi, Marak was arrested in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh following a nationwide alert seeking his arrest by the Meghalaya Police. The BJP leader was arrested during checking of vehicles on the national highway.

The Meghalaya Police on Saturday rescued six children and arrested 73 people from a ‘brothel’ run by Marak at Tura in West Garo Hills district.

Rimpu Bagan, a farmhouse owned by militant-turned-politician Marak, was raided on the basis of a tip-off, as stated by the West Garo Hills district’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Vivekanand Singh.

All the children were handed over to the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) for safe custody and further necessary action as per law, he said.

However, Marak had dismissed the allegations of his farmhouse being used as a brothel as a “political conspiracy” and slammed Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for the raid.