Story Content

AICC Media & Publicity Department Chairperson and Congress leader Pawan Khera has petitioned the Telangana High Court to grant him anticipatory bail (which includes the freedom of transit) over an FIR that has been filed against him based on a complaint filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The case is based on the recent press conference given by Khera in which he charged Riniki with having several foreign passports (both UAE and others) and undisclosed property overseas, which is poorly refuted by the Sarma family. The FIR refers to some of the articles of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) such as false information, forgery, cheating, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy.

The Assam police visited the Delhi home of Khera on April 7 and subsequently made a visit to Hyderabad to help track him down. Khera, in his petition, which he filed on April 7, alleged that he had not been given a copy of the FIR and that the charges against him failed to constitute a case that could be cognized. The case is on the docket today before the Telangana High Court.

This has intensified the political tussle in poll-bound Assam at the dawn of voting today.