Pawan Khera likens Himanta as 'constitutional cowboy', 'rambo'; Supreme Court reserves order on his bail plea in Assam case

Referring to various statements by Assam CM, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said, venom and malice were spewed out of a constitutional Cowboy or a Rambo.

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday likened Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to a "constitutional cowboy or a Rambo" in the Supreme Court for his alleged remarks against him in relation to a criminal case.

A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and A S Chandurkar reserved the verdict on the anticipatory bail of Khera in the criminal case which was registered against him for alleging that Sarma's wife possessed multiple passports and undisclosed offshore properties.

Khera challenged the Gauhati High Court verdict dismissing his pre-arrest bail petition.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Khera, contended that the chief minister has been making several objectionable remarks against the petitioner. He said the allegations against him are a matter of trial and it was not necessary to humiliate him by arrest. He submitted that out of the total sections invoked against him, some are bailable while others don’t require his arrest.

The counsel said, ''Let me assume that I will be convicted ultimately. Why is it necessary to arrest me? The necessity is apparently only arising from angst reflected in the constitutional cowboy's various statements and that is not the law.''

Referring to various statements by Assam CM, Singhvi said, venom and malice were spewed out of a constitutional Cowboy or a Rambo.

Singhvi said, ''He says I will make police accountable how did Pawan Khera escape from Assam."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam government, opposed the plea and said Khera showed fake and doctored copies of passports of the chief minister’s wife. He said Khera has been absconding and releasing videos, and all the allegations about the chief minister’s wife holding multiple citizenships are false.

Khera has challenged the April 24 order of the Gauhati High Court refusing to grant him anticipatory bail. Following the allegations, the CM's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, filed criminal cases against Khera and others at the Guwahati Crime Branch police station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The Telangana High Court had earlier granted Khera a seven-day transit anticipatory bail, but Assam Police moved the Supreme Court against it. The apex court passed an interim order to stay the grant of anticipatory transit bail and asked Khera to approach the Gauhati High Court.