Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday appeared before the Crime Branch in Guwahati for questioning in connection with the forgery and defamation case filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, over allegations related to foreign assets and passports.
Reneke filed the case in Guwahati on April 5 after Khera alleged that she possesses multiple passports and has undisclosed foreign assets. He also shared some documents related to foreigners, which Sharma later claimed were forged.
Both Reneke and CM Sarma dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated, and Reneke subsequently filed a formal complaint with the Assam Police in Guwahati.
Read also: Supreme Court grants bail to Pawan Khera, warns that freedom cannot be subject to political competition
Based on the complaint, the Guwahati Crime Branch registered a case under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Sections 175 (false statement in relation to elections), 318 (cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable collateral or will), 337 (forgery of public record), 340 (using forged documents as genuine), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 356 (defamation), among others. Other matters.
Khaira arrived in Guwahati on Wednesday and went to the Crime Branch office with a team of lawyers, where his lawyers submitted documents linked to the allegations he had made earlier.
Advocate Ritam Singh, who accompanied Khaira, said the Supreme Court, while granting anticipatory bail, imposed a condition requiring him to appear before the Assam Police and cooperate with the investigation.
“Assam Police asked him to appear before the investigating officers on May 13 and he complied with the directions,” Singh said.
He added that the police interrogated Khaira about the basis of his allegations against the complainant and the documents he relied on. Khaira presented these documents to officials.
Before entering the Crime Branch office, Khaira said he came because investigators asked him to come.
“I am a law-abiding citizen and have followed the procedure from the beginning,” he said. “I came here because I respect the justice system and the law.”
Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora, who was also present outside the Crime Branch office, said that Khaira appeared before the investigating officers in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions.
In response, the Chief Minister said the Assam Police would file the chargesheet as soon as possible, provided Khaira cooperates properly with the investigation.
“Pawan Khera has appeared before the Crime Branch as per the Supreme Court’s order. We will file the chargesheet on time. We want to conclude the case as soon as possible,” Sarma said.
During the investigation, Assam Police also visited Khera’s residence in New Delhi on April 7, though he was not present there at that time.
Khera was initially granted anticipatory bail for seven days from the Telangana High Court on April 10. However, the Assam Police challenged this exemption in the Supreme Court, which stayed the SC order on April 15.
The Supreme Court observed that if Khaira approached a competent court in Assam, his earlier interim protection would not affect the consideration of his petition.
Khera later moved the Guwahati High Court seeking anticipatory bail. On April 24, Justice Parthiv Jyoti Saikia dismissed the petition after reserving the order after a detailed hearing on April 21.
Later, Khera approached the Supreme Court, and on May 1, a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandorkar granted him anticipatory bail observing that the allegations and counter-allegations in the case appear, prima facie, to be politically motivated and influenced by political rivalry.
However, the Supreme Court made it clear that its observations were limited to the determination of the bail application and should not affect the merits of the investigation or trial.
