SIT report on Gogoi’s ‘Pakistan links’ to be sent to Centre after adding Rawalpindi trip details: Himanta

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the SIT report on state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged 'Pakistan links' will be amended to incorporate 'disclosures' made by the MP at a recent press conference, including his visit to Rawalpindi district, and then referred to the Centre for further probe.

Sarma asserted that the Congress MP’s purported connection with the neighbouring country was not a poll issue as the saffron party is set to win the forthcoming Assembly election, but is a "struggle to ensure that Pakistan cannot enter Dispur".

"The Special Investigation Team (SIT) report will be amended to include Gogoi’s remarks at the press conference. Two new pieces of information were revealed by him -- that his wife took salary directly from Pakistan, and that he had visited Rawalpindi district, which has the Pakistan Army headquarters, without mentioning it in the visa," Sarma told reporters here.

"These will be included in the SIT report and sent to Delhi tomorrow or the day after," he added.

The state government had constituted the SIT to probe alleged interference in India’s internal affairs by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Gogoi’s British wife Elizabeth Colburn.

Based on its findings, Sarma had alleged in a press conference on Sunday that Gogoi, Colburn and Sheikh had a "deeper connection", and that information from the Intelligence Bureau was secretly passed on to the neighbouring nation.

The state Cabinet has decided to refer the case and the SIT report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further investigation.

Gogoi had dismissed the allegations of his Pakistani connections as "most mindless and bogus", and dubbed the press conference, where Sarma made the allegations, "worse than C-grade cinema", which was a "super flop".

On Gogoi not being questioned by the SIT, Sarma said, "Police know who to deal with a case, it has its own strategy. When a person is cornered, they blurt out the truth, just like Gogoi admitted to his Rawalpindi visit.

"If he were called for questioning, his lawyer would have accompanied him, and he would have never told us about it," he added.

Asked how the Centre will take forward the case, Sarma maintained that "no one will let go of a matter when Pakistan is involved" and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is a "man of deeds rather than words".

"His silence is indicative of a storm," the CM said, referring to Shah.

The CM asserted that the investigations into Gogoi’s ‘Pakistan links’ have nothing to do with the upcoming state elections.

"We don’t need this for winning the election; we are far ahead. This is a struggle so that Pakistan cannot enter Dispur…We exposed what kind of people Rahul Gandhi promotes," he said.

Sarma claimed Congress members were angry with Gogoi over his ‘Pakistan links’.

"Rajiv Bhawan (state Congress headquarters) is now working with us as they want to defeat Pakistan. Not all people take Pakistan so easily," he claimed.

The CM further maintained that Gogoi refrained from taking many questions during his press conference on Monday, during which he had responded to the charges brought against him a day earlier based on the SIT report.

"I always face questions, even if those are uncomfortable…only selected journalists were allowed to raise questions in Gogoi’s presser," he claimed.

He also maintained that reporters were ‘jostled’ at the Congress press meet, which never happens in BJP office media briefings.

Sarma further said a whistleblower from within the Congress has told police that three persons, associated with a political consultancy group engaged by the opposition party, have "connived for getting ink thrown on Gogoi and shift the blame to BJP".

He said police have recorded the information and called the persons concerned as a preventive measure.

Responding to Congress leader Pawan Khera’s allegation that Sarma was a follower of a Bangladeshi cleric, the CM said the cleric had earlier visited former chief minister Tarun Gogoi and that Gaurav Gogoi had also met him." "The cleric had visited Tarun Gogoi at his Koinadhora residence (then official residence of CM). Gaurav Gogoi had visited him twice at a Machkhowa (Guwahati locality) residence," Sarma claimed.

"Let Khera post about the cleric's visit to Tarun Gogoi’s home. They always post half-truths," he said.

Sarma said he has a "lot of photographs" with maulanas from his Congress days and questioned, "What is wrong with it?" He had joined the saffron party in August 2015.

He maintained that he has not deleted his old photographs from social media from his Congress days "so that people can know what kind of person I was after my death".

"I have nothing against Sufism, I have visited many dargahs," Sarma added.

AICC leader Khera had on Tuesday alleged that Sarma was a follower of Bangladeshi cleric Dewan Mohammad Saidur Rahman Chishti Saidabadi, on whose advice he had joined the saffron party.