Assam govt files plea in Supreme Court against interim relief to Congress leader Pawan Khera

New Delhi: The Assam government has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the Telangana High Court order granting one-week transit anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in a case registered against him for levelling allegations against the state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

The state government filed the plea through advocate Shuvodeep Roy.

The court is likely to take up the matter for hearing this week.

Khera moved the high court on April 7 and showed his residential address in Hyderabad. Khera requested the high court to release him on bail in the event of his arrest.

On April 10, the high court granted Khera one-week transit anticipatory bail and gave him a week to file an application before the concerned court.

Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the HC said, it is of the view that the petitioner has made out a case for the grant of limited transit anticipatory bail, as his apprehension of arrest appears to be reasonable and supported by material on record.

The high court granted him relief with certain conditions, including that he would be released on bail in the event of arrest on his executing a personal bond for Rs one lakh with two sureties for the like sum each, cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation as and when required by the Investigating Officer and that he would not leave the country without prior permission of the competent court.

The petitioner was also told to approach the competent jurisdictional court in Assam and seek appropriate relief.

The conditions also included that Khera, being a public figure, would exercise restraint in making any further public statements in relation to the subject matter of the present case, which may prejudice the investigation.

The Congress leader on April 5 had alleged that the Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister’s election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in that state.