Pawan Khera moves Supreme Court after Guwahati High Court rejected anticipatory bail

Khera had alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife possessed multiple passports and undisclosed properties abroad.

New Delhi: Congress leader Pawan Khera has approached the Supreme Court against the Gauhati High Court's order rejecting his plea for anticipatory bail plea in connection with an FIR filed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, for levelling allegations related to her holding three foreign passports and a company in the United States.

His plea is likely to be mentioned on Monday for urgent hearing.

Khera approached the apex court, after the Gauhati High Court had on April 24, 2026 dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail in the case registered against him by the Crime Branch of Assam Police in Guwahati.

The CM's wife registered the FIR against Khera for forgery and other offences due to his claims at a press conference that she held multiple foreign passports and undisclosed assets abroad.

With this, the Assam Police had visited Khera's residence in Delhi on April 7, 2026 but he was not present there. Sensing imminent arrest in the case, Khera approached the Telangana High Court seeking transit anticipatory bail.

On April 10, the Telangana HC had granted him one week's relief to enable him approach the appropriate court in Assam for anticipatory bail.

The Assam government then challenged the HC's order before the Supreme Court which on April 15, 2026 stayed Telangana HC's April 10 order.

On April 17, the court refused to extend the transit bail period and asked his to approach the jurisdictional court.

In his plea, Khera claimed that the FIR was registered to "satisfy ulterior motive/political vendetta of the complainant", who is the wife of the Assam Chief Minister.

The Gauhati High Court on April 24 rejected his plea, holding his custodial interrogation was necessary to find the persons who had provided him the documents he used to claim that the CM's wife held three foreign passports.

"If Khera had made the allegations only against the Chief Minister, it would have been called political rhetoric but he dragged an innocent lady into the controversy. It was not a simple case of defamation," the HC said.

At a press conference on April 5, Khera alleged that the Assam CM's wife, Riniki had three passports and a property in the USA, which were not declared in her election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in that state. The CM and his wife rejected the allegations as false and fabricated.