Congress’s Pawan Khera moves to SC, urges bail:Move after Gauhati HC’s Rejection of plea against FIR by Assam CM’s Wife

Congress leader Pawan Khera has reached the Supreme Court concerning the Gauhati High Court’s rejection of his anticipatory bail plea. The order of the HC was given in connection with an FIR filed by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma. The case against Khera over his allegations related to her holding multiple passports and undisclosed assets abroad, news agency ANI reported. Earlier this month, Assam police had reached Hyderabad, Telangana, looking for Khera. Khera is the Chairman of the Media Publicity Department of the Congress party and is also a member of the Congress Working Committee. What was the Guahati High Court’s decision? The denial decision of the Gauhati HC concerning Khera’s plea came over its observation that he dragged an ‘innocent lady’ into the controversy to gain political mileage. At that time, the plea was heard by a single bench of Justice Parthiv Jyoti Saikia, who reserved the order after hearing detailed arguments from both sides on April 21, with a written judgment still awaited. Earlier, the Telangana High Court, on April 10 in Hyderabad, granted one week transit anticipatory bail to Khera and permitted him to move before the concerned court. Assam Police thereafter moved to the Supreme Court against this order, and on April 15, the top Court stayed the grant of transit anticipatory bail by the Telangana High Court. Allegations against Assam CM’s wife The case stems from allegations made by Khera on April 5 against Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of the Assam Chief Minister. He claimed she possessed multiple passports and foreign assets that were not disclosed in Sarma’s election affidavit ahead of the April 9 Assembly polls. Details of the case against Pawan Khera The FIR has been registered 1. under Sections 175 (false statement) 2. 35, 36, 318 (Cheating) 3. 338 (forgery of valuable will, security etc.) 4. 337(Forgery of record of Court or of public register, etc.) 5. 340(Forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) 6. 352 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) 7. 356(Defamation) of BNS at Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station. UAE golden card shown by Pawan Khera belonged to Pakistani national: Assam Advocate General Advocate General Devajit Lon Saikia said that on April 5, Pawan Khera made serious allegations against Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He alleged that she owned real estate assets in Dubai and the United States and had investments worth ₹52,000 crore. Khera also displayed several documents, including passports and a UAE golden visa card. Following the press conferences, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma lodged a complaint with Assam Police the same night, prompting swift action. Saikia added that by the next morning, the Chief Minister addressed the media, dismissing the allegations as baseless and fabricated. According to the Advocate General, the subsequent investigation found that the UAE golden visa card shown by Khera actually belonged to a Pakistani national, who had reported it lost on March 28, several days before the press conference. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s clarifications
Himanta posted a video on X saying Congress stole the documents from a website called Scribd. Responding to the Dubai flat allegations on Monday, Himanta Biswa Sarma said the real owners of the two Dubai apartments named by Congress had been identified as Mohammed Ahmed and Fatima Suleman. He alleged Congress had taken the documents from a website called Scribd and said this was how the actual owners were traced. Earlier, on 5 April, shortly after Khera’s press conference, Himanta posted on X saying the documents shown by Khera contained several major errors in names, photographs and passport details, proving they were fake and digitally tampered with. He said Pawan Khera would have to face legal consequences for spreading false claims and that the truth would prevail.