Assam police search Khera’s residence following FIR by Himanta’s wife

NEW DELHI: Assam police on Tuesday conducted searches at the Delhi residence of Congress leader Pawan Khera, days after he levelled serious allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan.

The Assam police team formally informed the Delhi Police upon arrival, following which a local police team joined and assisted in the proceedings.

Khera was not present at his residence when the police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Debajit Nath conducted the searches.

The police action came days after Khera, at a press conference on Sunday, alleged that the Assam CM’s wife possessed passports of three countries: the UAE, Egypt, and Antigua and Barbuda.

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, a search was carried out and electronic devices were seized.

Some “incriminating material” was found but its details cannot be disclosed at this stage, he said, adding the case had been registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati.

Sarma had warned of legal action against Khera, who had in a press conference on Sunday alleged that the chief minister’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the CM’s election affidavit.

Sources said that over a dozen police personnel descended on Khera’s house in Nizamuddin in central Delhi at around 11 am and left after around two hours.

The Congress hit out at Sarma, alleging that he was “disturbed and rattled” due to “imminent” defeat in the April 9 polls and was using state machinery to muzzle the opposition’s voice, but the chief minister said the police will hunt down Khera from “pataal (netherworld) to question him on the “false documents” that he had used to target his family.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the deployment of a “full army of police officials” to arrest 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,” Ramesh said on X.

It also proves that the CM is facing imminent defeat, Ramesh claimed.

Asked about Khera’s allegations against Sarma’s wife, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who is campaigning in Assam, said all agencies are under the Central government, which should probe the charges.

“They have already filed an FIR against Khera. Let them probe the matter. We will face the case as it progresses. We have sought probes by the ED or the CBI into the allegations,” he added.

On Monday, Sarma had alleged that the Congress used “false information” sourced from a Pakistani social media group to level “baseless and malicious” allegations against his wife. The BJP leader termed it an attempt to influence the Assam elections and a punishable offence.

Meanwhile, the BJP hit out at the Congress for calling Assam Police action against Pawan Khera a “witch hunt” and said the opposition party leader must face consequences for levelling “fake” allegations against Sarma and his wife.

“They have approached the police. The police are doing their job,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters at the BJP headquarters while replying to queries on the issue.

Prasad said Khera made “palpably false” allegations against the Assam chief minister and his wife, and now he is “running away” when police have initiated action in the case.With Agency Inputs