Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday accused the Congress of using documents from a Pakistan-linked social media group to allegedly forge passports of three countries belonging to his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma.
On Sunday, the Congress held two press conferences in Delhi and Guwahati, where party media chief Pawan Khera and Assam unit chief Gaurav Gogoi claimed that Sarma’s wife has passports from the UAE, Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda. They claimed that she owns properties in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and has a company in Wyoming (United States).
“There is a Pakistani angle to the matter as all the data that was used to fabricate the alleged passports was taken from a social media group called Pakistanis of Ajman.” [Facebook]Sarma said, “In the last 10 days, news channels in Pakistan have presented several talk shows on elections in our state. It shows that there is a conspiracy being hatched in the neighboring country to influence the Assam election results.”
He said that in normal circumstances, it would have simply become a defamation case. Sarma added that such allegations made just before the elections could affect the outcome and be more serious, and could even lead to life imprisonment.
On Sunday night, Sharma filed a case in Guwahati against Khaira and others seeking action against their “false allegations”.
Sarma refuted Congress’s allegations against his family, and registered a limited liability company (LLC) in Wyoming with $An investment of 52,000 crores. “On Sunday night, we also registered a fake LLC in the same state in the names of Gaurav Gogoi and his wife. Anyone can do this by paying just $199[about[around$20,000]. This shows how easy it is to create these documents.”
Sarma said Congress submitted a document showing minutes of a meeting of their alleged company in 2025. He added that the Wyoming government website shows the company was registered two days ago.
Sarma said the alleged UAE passport was forged from a missing document updated on the Facebook group. He added that the Egyptian passport was forged from a document belonging to a citizen of that country. Sarma said there were typographical errors in the fake Antigua and Barbuda passport.
“A simple reverse search of those documents submitted shows that they are fake. The photographs shown in the three alleged passports are doctored and are clearly detectable. Also, the documents indicating that my wife owns properties in Dubai are fake, as scanning the QR code on them does not show anything,” Sarma said.
He said the Union government had sought clarifications from the authorities in the UAE, Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda about its authenticity. Sarma said: “The government has informed us that there are no such documents in the UAE. The Antigua and Barbuda authorities have stated that a preliminary look at the alleged passport indicates that it is fake. We are awaiting the response of the Egyptian authorities.”
