Activist Akhil Gogoi refused bail, court says accusations not wholly improbable
Akhil Gogoi is associated with a peasant organisation based in Assam..
Assam-based activist Akhil Gogoi’s bail plea has been rejected in a case of violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Assam last year. A special NIA court relied on the evidence collected against Gogoi and observed that it cannot be said that the accusations are wholly improbable, according to an NIA statement.
Gogoi is set to move the state high court against the rejection order delivered in Guwahati on Friday.
Gogoi was arrested on December 12 as a preventive measure while protests against the CAA in the state raged and resulted in violence at several places. Gogoi’s case was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which filed a charge sheet against him on June 29, 2020 for alleged conspiracy in league with the proscribed Maoist outfit, the CPI (Maoist) group, for commissioning of alleged terrorist acts.
“It pertains to larger conspiracy hatched by CPI (Maoist), a proscribed organisation, wherein Akhil Gogoi and other accused persons intentionally conspired, and incited acts preparatory to commission of terrorist acts,” an official statement by NIA said.
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NIA has argued that the alleged conspiracy hatched by Gogoi in connivance with others included disrupting supplies and services essential to the life of the community and causing damage and destruction of public and private property aimed at striking terror in a section of people of India.
“Accused Akhil Gogoi and others have used passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament as an opportunity to further the Maoist agenda and to promote enmity between different groups and to do acts, prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, thus endangering security and sovereignty of the State,” the statement added further.
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Akhil Gogoi is associated with Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a peasant organisation based in Assam.
The agency had earlier conducted raids at Gogoi’s residence in Guwahati.
The hearing on Gogoi’s bail plea continued for 10 days in NIA court, which ultimately resulted in its rejection on Friday. The case against Gogoi and others is in pre-trial stage for framing of charges against the accused persons.
