Congress leader Pawan Khera appeared before Assam Police Crime Branch here on Thursday for the second consecutive day in connection with the cases filed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma. The cases were lodged after Khera alleged that Riniki possessed multiple passports and undisclosed properties abroad. Police questioned Khera for over 10 hours on Wednesday and asked him to appear again today. ''I am cooperating with the investigations and will do so again today, he told reporters before appearing for questioning on Thursday. Khera refused to comment on the investigations, stating that he will talk after it is completed. He had said on Wednesday night, after coming out of the Crime branch office, that he was "a law-abiding citizen, it is my duty to cooperate as there is a constitution and I will abide by it''.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Wednesday that the law will take its own course, but "we have already received in writing from the Union government that the documents Khera displayed were fake."bPolice investigations, therefore, will not take long, and they will be able to submit the chargesheet within the stipulated time, the CM said. Sarma's wife had filed criminal complaints against Khera and others at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The charges against the Congress leader include making false statements in connection with an election, cheating, forgery, use of forged documents as genuine, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and defamation. Earlier, Assam Police had visited Khera's residence in Delhi, but he was reportedly not present there.
Khera had initially approached the Telangana High Court, which granted him seven-day transit anticipatory bail. However, Assam Police challenged the order in the Supreme Court. The apex court stayed the transit bail order and directed Khera to approach the Gauhati High Court. Subsequently, the Gauhati High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, following which Khera moved the Supreme Court again. The Supreme Court later granted him anticipatory bail, observing that the matter appeared to have arisen out of political rivalry.