Assam Police reaches Pawan Khera's residence in Delhi after Himanta's wife files FIR against him

Assam Police personnel were accompanied by Delhi counterparts, who cordoned off the area near the residence of the Congress Media & Publicity Dept Chairman.

New Delhi: Assam Police on Tuesday searched the residence of senior Congress leader Pawan Khera here to arrest him after registering a case against him following Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s claim that he used fake documents to level allegations against him and his wife, but he was not found.

The Congress described the move as a “bully using state machinery to muzzle and silence the voice of the Opposition” as also something that proves that the Assam Chief Minister is “disturbed, desperate, and rattled”. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said they were not scared of an FIR while Sarma claimed Khera has “fled” to Hyderabad which is governed by the Congress.

Assam Police personnel were accompanied by their Delhi counterparts, who cordoned off the area near the residence of Khera, Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman, in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin. He was not at his residence when the police arrived and is said to be out of town while he was in Assam on Monday.

“A case has been registered at the Crime Branch Police Station in Guwahati. We wanted Khera in connection with the case. We came in search of him but he was not found and his house was searched. We found some incriminating material, which cannot be disclosed at this stage. Electronic devices have been seized,” Assam Crime Branch ACP Debojit Nath told reporters.

Khera’s whereabouts are currently unknown, but he will be traced, Nath said after the conclusion of the searches.

A case was registered against Khera, who held a press conference on Sunday, after Sarma refuted his allegations that his wife Riniki possesses three passports from three different countries and that he hid details of his businesses in UAE and the United States, claiming that the documents publicised by the Congress leader were fake.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh posted on ‘X’, “the deployment of a full army of police officials to arrest my colleague Pawan 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. It also proves that the CM is facing imminent defeat,” he said.

While Sarma claimed he did not know why Assam Police went to Delhi, Kharge said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita, who belongs to Assam, should clear the air on the passports allegedly held by Sarma’s wife. “By registering an FIR, you cannot scare us, we will face it,” he said.