Setback for Pawan Khera as Gauhati High Court denies bail in case by Assam CM's wife
Congress leader Pawan Khera has received a setback from the Gauhati High Court, which denied his bail in connection with the case filed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. This comes after his transit bail was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Friday received another setback from the Gauhati High Court after his anticipatory bail was rejected by it in connection with a case registered against him over complaint by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. The order was passed by Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia, who had reserved the decision after hearing the arguments this Tuesday.
The development comes days after the Congress leader's transit bail was rejected by the Supreme Court which asked him to move to Assam court. The apex court also clarified that neither it nor the Telangana High Court will come in the way of the Assam court which will hear the matter.
The Supreme Court order gave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fodder to attack the Congress, which said that this has exposed Khera'as "baseless and politically-motivated" campaign against Sarma and his wife. "Those documents (used by Khera) turned out to be forged, fake, photoshopped, AI-generated and in half an hour, the entire truth came out," BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla had said in a video on X.
Khera's allegations and the row over it
In the allegations, Khera alleged that Sarma's wife has multiple passports and operates businesses in several countries. Khera faced a backlash over his allegations from the BJP, with the Assam Police registering a case against him over Sharma's complaint on April 6.
Khera had moved to the Telangana High Court, showing his residential address in Hyderabad. He had argued that the FIR against him was a political vendetta. Khera was given anticipatory bail by the high court on April 10, but it was stayed by the Supreme Court later, which asked him to move to Assam court.
"It is clear that the operation of the impugned order in transit bail was stayed subject to liberty to the respondent to apply for anticipatory bail in a court having jurisdiction in Assam. When an application seeking anticipatory bail is filed by the respondent before the competent court, such court shall not be influenced by the order granting transit bail or staying transit bail by this court," the top court had said.
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