Guwahati court denies non-bailable arrest warrant against Pawan Khera

Guwahati: A local court in Guwahati has rejected Assam Police’s plea for issuance of non-bailable warrant of arrest against Congress leader Pawan Khera in a case filed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife over allegations of her possessing multiple passports and foreign property.

The order was passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kamrup Metro, on April 7, a day before Khera applied for anticipatory bail before the Telangana High Court.

The copy of the order of the CJM court was shared with the media here on Sunday.

The CJM said that the grounds shown by the investigating officer (IO) for issuance of non-bailable warrant were “entirely based on presumptions and conjectures, and are not supported by any material on record”.

“Furthermore, as the present case is cognisable and offence being non-bailable, the I/O already has the authority to effect arrest under Section 35 of the BNSS, if deemed necessary for the purposes of investigation, according to the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the order said.

“In view of the above, the prayer for issuance of a Non-Bailable Warrant cannot be acceded to and hence rejected at this stage,” the CJM added.

The case against Khera was registered at the Guwahati Crime Branch police station under various sections, including 175 (false statement in connection with an election) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, had filed the case on April 6 against the Congress leader and all other persons who acted in connivance with him.

She claimed that Khera’s allegations in two press conferences on April 5, one in New Delhi and the other in Guwahati, that she possessed multiple passports/golden cards and foreign property, which were not declared in her husband’s election affidavit, were false and baseless.

She maintained that the documents showed by Khera to support his allegations were “all fake, doctored, forged and fabricated”, and the claims were made with “criminal intent to create public disorder and public insinuation, likely to incite public unrest, mislead citizens and disturb public tranquillity, at a highly sensitive electoral stage”.

Khera was initially granted a one-week transit anticipatory bail by the Telangana High Court on April 10.

However, the Supreme Court last week took note of a plea by the Assam government and stayed the high court's order in the case.

It also refused to entertain Khera's plea seeking protection from arrest till April 20 in the case lodged against him by Bhuyan Sharma.

The apex court asked the Congress leader to move a court of competent jurisdiction in Assam for anticipatory bail in the case, and made clear that the court there will hear his plea without taking note of adverse remarks, if any, made by it and the Telangana High Court.