Image: IANS, PTI
GUWAHATI: An Assam Police team searched Tuesday the New Delhi residence of Congress neta Pawan Khera in connection with a case filed by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, escalating a political clash over alleged multiple passports and foreign assets.Khera was not found at his Nizamuddin residence during the search carried out with assistance from Delhi Police, officials said. “We will trace him wherever he is,” said DCP Debajit Nath.Police seized electronic devices during the operation. “Some incriminating material was found, but its details cannot be disclosed at this stage,” Nath added. An FIR was lodged in Guwahati around midnight Sunday after Khera and Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi alleged Riniki held passports of UAE, Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda, owned properties in Dubai and had assets routed through US shell companies. The case includes charges such as forgery under BNS.CM Sarma rejected the allegations, calling documents shown by Congress “AI-generated fake”. “Khera had dared Assam Police to arrest him, but I’ve come to know through media that police went to his residence in Delhi, but he ran away to Hyderabad. The law will take its own course,” Sarma said. Opposition voices sharpened demands for scrutiny. Congress ally Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi called for a CBI probe into allegations that Sarma’s family holds assets abroad. Gogoi accused the CM of deflecting questions. “Khera’s questions should be answered directly. The CM doesn’t have the courage and is using police instead,” he added.Khera must face consequences: BJP; Congress calls it witch huntBJP and Congress sparred over Assam Police’s action against Khera Tuesday, with the governing party backing the move and the latter calling it a “witch hunt”.If someone makes fake allegations and raises questions over the citizenship of the CM’s wife, he should be ready to face consequences, BJP said. He should face police and not run away after levelling such a big charge, it said.Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said the deployment of a “full army of police officials” to arrest Khera for asking basic questions in public interest proves that the CM is “disturbed, desperate, and rattled”. Sarma is acting like a bully who is rattled by questions asked in public interest, he said.On the action, he said, “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.
