Akhil Gogoi gets bail as NIA fails to file charge sheet within 90 days, but will remain in jail

A special NIA court here on Tuesday granted bail to peasants' rights leader Akhil Gogoi in a case that charged him of having links with the Maoists, a day after it rejected the investigation agency's plea to extend his judicial custody.

Hours later, however, Assam police showed him arrested in another case registered during the anti-CAA agitation in eastern Assam's Jorhat district.

Akhil's lawyer, Krishna Gogoi told DH that his immediate release from the jail was unlikely since a new case was imposed on him and a bail application in connection with another case registered with crime branch of Assam police was pending in Gauhati high court.

Gogoi, who leads Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti was arrested in Jorhat on December 12, a day after the anti-CAA protest turned violent in Guwahati. The BJP-led Assam government referred the case to NIA alleging that the peasants' leader was having links with the Maoists. His family members, however, rejected the allegations saying the government was targetting him repeatedly for his strong movement against the BJP's policies, be it big dams or the CAA.

Some of his close aides were also arrested and are still in judicial custody.

At least five persons died in police firing or the violence during the anti-CAA movement following which the state government arrested several persons including KMSS and youth Congress workers on charges of their involvement in the violence.

Most parts of the Northeast erupted in protest against CAA as it seeks to offer citizenship to "foreigners" from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 2014. They fear that CAA would reduce them into minorities and destroy their ethnic identity.