The Telangana High Court on Friday granted Congress leader Pawan Khera anticipatory bail for a week in connection with the First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him by the Assam Police. The FIR was registered following a complaint filed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, over Khera’s allegations that she holds multiple passports.
When Khera’s lawyer urged the court to extend the period of one week to protect him from arrest, Justice K. Sujana, who was presiding over the case, said Khaira was a “very important person” and the court was confident that the Congress leader could move the Guwahati High Court for further relief within a week.
On Thursday, Khaira sought anticipatory bail before Justice Sujana arguing that there was no justification for the arrest in what was considered, “at the highest”, an alleged defamation case, and accused Sarma of using the state police to harass and intimidate him.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Khera, told the court that the Assam chief minister was politically vindictive and, by sending the state police after Khera, was acting like a “constitutional cowboy” who could “embarrass Rambo”.
The FIR itself framed the allegations against Khera as “defamatory assumptions” and hence, there was no necessity for custodial interrogation, Singhvi said.
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Singhvi had told the Supreme Court that Khaira, a prominent political figure, was neither a flight risk nor a habitual criminal and hence there was no need to arrest him at the present stage of the case.
Opposing Khaira’s plea, Assam Police said the case went beyond mere defamation and involved serious allegations of forgery and fabrication of documents.
Assam Solicitor General Devajit Saikia, who represented the Assam Police, also told the Supreme Court that Khera should have moved the Guwahati High Court instead to seek relief.
But Singhvi said that Khera’s wife resides in Hyderabad and Khera himself was in Hyderabad when the police reached his residence in Delhi. Therefore, he was entitled to move the Telangana High Court seeking anticipatory bail, Singhvi said.
The FIR was registered following a complaint filed by Riniki Sharma on April 6 this year, after Khera claimed in a press conference that she holds several foreign passports and undeclared foreign assets.
Saikia had told the court on Thursday that Sharma had denied all the accusations against her and said that Khaira had used “forged and forged” documents to file the accusations against her.
