Supreme Court stays Telangana HC's order granting anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Telangana High Court's April 10 order granting one-week transit anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera in a case registered against him for levelling allegations of possessing multiple passports by the state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar suspended the operation of the High Court's order on a plea filed by the Assam government, expressing surprise with the decision.

The court, however, clarified if Khera applied for anticipatory bail in a court in Assam, this order would not have any adverse effect on consideration of his plea.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Assam government contended the plea by Khera before the Telangana High Court was an abuse of the process of law and amounted to forum shopping.

There was a patent lack of jurisdiction, the offence happened in Assam, the FIR was registered in Assam, he said.

The bench, however, pointed out, it was submitted before the High Court that Khera's wife resided at Hyderabad.

To this, Mehta claimed that his wife's Aadhaar card showed her as a resident of Delhi.

He also claimed to file the petition before the Telangana High Court, the document (Aadhaar Card) has been used. The front page of the Aadhar Card is in the name of Khera, though the back side indicated the address of his wife though aadhar numbers of both are different.

"Thus, by producing a fabricated document, only to make out the jurisdiction of the Telangana High Court, the petition was filed for bail," he said.

"If this is the case, a person can buy properties across the country, and seek anticipatory bail from the places they choose. This is forum-shopping, if not forum-choosing," he said, referring to Priya Indoria Vs State of Karnataka & Ors (2024).

He further claimed Khera did not disclose why he could not approach the court in Assam.

The court noted there was an application for extension of interim relief before the High Court as well.

The bench stayed the High Court's order and issued notice to Khera. The court fixed the matter for consideration on May 13, 2026.

The Congress leader on April 5 had alleged that the Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister’s election affidavit for the April 9 Assembly polls in that state. This has resulted in lodging of the FIR for use of alleged forged documents to make his claims.

Khera moved the high court on April 7 and showed his residential address in Hyderabad. Khera requested the high court to release him on bail in the event of his arrest.

On April 10, the high court granted Khera one-week transit anticipatory bail and gave him a week to file an application before the concerned court.

Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the HC said, it is of the view that the petitioner has made out a case for the grant of limited transit anticipatory bail, as his apprehension of arrest appears to be reasonable and supported by material on record.

The high court granted him relief with certain conditions, including that he would be released on bail in the event of arrest on his executing a personal bond for Rs 1 lakh with two sureties for the like sum each, cooperate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation as and when required by the Investigating Officer and that he would not leave the country without prior permission of the competent court.

The petitioner was also told to approach the competent jurisdictional court in Assam and seek appropriate relief.

The conditions also included that Khera, being a public figure, would exercise restraint in making any further public statements in relation to the subject matter of the present case, which may prejudice the investigation.