Guwahati: After the Supreme Court on Friday refused to extend the transit anticipatory bail protection for Congress leader Pawan Khera granted to him by the Telangana high court on an FIR filed by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Sarma said it’s time for Khera to surrender in Guwahati.A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar directed Khera to move a competent court in Assam for anticipatory bail, clarifying that the Gauhati high court would hear his plea uninfluenced by any adverse remarks made earlier by the apex court or the Telangana high court.The ruling effectively opens the door for Assam Police to initiate action against Khera on the FIR filed.Reacting to the order, Sarma said, “Khera should now surrender before the law in Guwahati.”Sarma earlier expressed sharp displeasure in a televised interview with ABP News two days ago over how Khera was able to leave Guwahati soon after the FIR was filed.“If our govt returns to power, on May 5th, the commissioner of police will be in my firing line. The FIR was filed at 12 am. If he had to be questioned prima facie, it should have been. But by 6 am, Pawan Khera had left Guwahati. This means Assam Police let him go,” Sarma said.
Clarifying his role as home minister, Sarma added that he could not intervene at the time due to the model code of conduct being in force during the assembly elections. “I am angrier at Assam Police than Pawan Khera. How did he leave Guwahati?” he said.At two press conferences on Apr 5, first in New Delhi and later in Guwahati, Khera had alleged that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma possessed multiple passports and foreign property not disclosed in Sarma’s election affidavit. Both Sarma and his wife have rejected the charges as “false and fabricated.” The CM’s wife subsequently filed an FIR at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under multiple provisions of the BNS.
