E-Paper
'He's run away', says Sarma as Assam Police reaches Pawan Khera's residence in Delhi
Khera on Sunday alleged in a press conference that Sarma’s wife has passports of the UAE, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda and owns property in Dubai.
Assam Police conducted searches at Congress leader Pawan Khera's residence in Delhi on Tuesday, a day after FIR was filed against him by state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan over allegations of passport fraud he levelled against her.
Local police was assisting Assam cops at the residence in Nizamuddin area, HT learnt.
Speaking with reporters outside the Congress leader's house, Assam police DCP Debojit Nath said that Khera was not found at his residence. However, he said that a search was carried out and electronic devices were seized. Some "incriminating material" was found but its details cannot be disclosed at this stage, PTI news agency quoted him as saying.
The case has been registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati, the DCP said, adding that the whereabouts of the Congress leader are currently unknown, but he will be traced.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that Khera has “run away to Hyderabad”, while Congress hit back saying the searches prove that the CM is “facing imminent defeat”.
"He ran away from Guwahati yesterday. I have come to know through the media that the police have gone to his residence in Delhi, but he has run away to Hyderabad. The law will take its own course," Sarma said, responding to a question at a public rally on Tuesday.
A major political controversy broke out between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after former's bombshell press conferences on Sunday, in which allegations against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife were raised.
Congress held two press conferences in Delhi and Guwahati, where the party’s media department head, Pawan Khera, and Assam unit chief, Gaurav Gogoi, alleged that Sarma’s wife has passports of the UAE, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda. They alleged she owns properties in Dubai (UAE) and has a company in Wyoming (US).
Sarma on Monday accused Congress of using documents from a social media group linked to Pakistan to forge alleged passports of three countries belonging to his wife.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sought clarification from the central government and external affairs minister S Jaishankar on allegations over passport against Bhuyan after searches were conducted at Khera's residence. Kharge said party will face whatever happens.
“We want clarification from the central government and the external affairs minister; we will face whatever happens," Kharge said at a press conference.
Sarma's ‘life imprisonment’ threat to Cong
Sarma said in a press conference on Monday that there is a Pakistani angle to the allegations levelled by Congress leaders, “as all the data which was used to fabricate the alleged passports was taken from a social media group called Pakistanis in Ajman [Facebook].”
“In the past 10 days, news channels in Pakistan have done several talk shows on the election in our state. It shows that there is a conspiracy hatched in the neighbouring country to influence the results of the Assam election,” an earliet HT report quoted Sarma as saying.
He said in normal circumstances, it would have simply become a defamation case. Sarma added that such allegations made just ahead of the election can influence the outcome and are more serious, and can even lead to "life imprisonment".
On Sunday night, Sharma filed a case in Guwahati against Khera and others seeking action against their “fake allegations”.
Responding to a list of questions by Gaurav Gogoi over the allegations, Riniki Bhuyan took to X denied Dubai links and asked him to disclose whether his wife has ever had a bank account in Pakistan.
“Here it is: Neither I, nor my children, nor my husband have any business interests or assets in Dubai or anywhere outside India. Now your turn. Can you disclose whether your wife has or has ever had a bank account in Pakistan? And will you make those details public?” Bhuyan said.
“Also interesting how, within 24 hours, you’ve already climbed down from your claim of a ‘golden visa on an Egyptian passport’ to now talking about an ‘Indian passport',” she wrote.
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh took to X and said the deployment of a “full army of police officials to arrest Pawan Khera for asking basic questions in the public interest proves that the Assam CM is disturbed, desperate, and rattled.”
“This is not due process but instead a witch hunt, a bully using state machinery to muzzle and silence the voice of the Opposition that is exposing his many black deeds. Those who intimidate are the ones who are afraid and have much to hide,” Jairam Ramesh said.
It also proves that the CM is facing imminent defeat, Ramesh added.
