National Youth Award winner in judicial custody

National Youth Award winner Andreas Marwein, charged with having links with a banned insurgent outfit, has been sent to 14-day judicial custody.

He was produced before the CJM court here on Tuesday which remanded him to judicial custody.

Marwein faces charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation, extortion and various other sections under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

He had surrendered to the police on January 4 after he was threatened by proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation
Council (HNLC) for failing to account for the money collected
by him for the outfit, DSP Vivek Syiem said today.

29-year-old Marwein, who received the National Youth Award last year, had collected nearly Rs 1 crore over the last five years for HNLC and also helped mobilise youths to join the group.

He used to collect the money after the outfit gave extortion notices to people in Khasi and Jaintia regions of Meghalaya, official
sources said.

He had also provided logistic support to the HNLC by providing it with profiles and photographs of prominent traders and personalities of the state who were targets of the outfit for extortion, they said.