Telangana High Court on Friday granted interim relief to Congress leader Pawan Khera in the case registered against him by Assam Police for his alleged defamatory and malicious charges against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma.
The High Court granted anticipatory bail to Khera for one week to enable him to file an application for regular bail before the concerned court.
Justice K. Sujana, who had reserved orders on Khera’s petition on Thursday, pronounced the same on Friday.
Khera had approached the High Court for transit anticipatory bail to enable him to approach courts in Assam.
Appearing for Khera, Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the FIR registered by Assam Police was a result of political vendetta.
Singhvi alleged that the FIR had been loaded with every possible charge to exert pressure on a political opponent. He argued that even if the Congress leader’s statements turned out to be wrong, the case was one of defamation, and there was no reason to arrest him.
“Khera is not absconding. He is ready to cooperate. He came to this court only because he was in Hyderabad with his wife when he learnt about the FIR,” Singhvi said.
Appearing for Assam Police, Advocate General of Assam Devajit Saikia challenged the maintainability of the anticipatory bail petition in Hyderabad. He submitted that Khera, a resident of Delhi, has not shown any reason why he cannot file the petition in Assam.
Assam Police have booked Pawan Khera in a case of alleged defamation, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
The case was registered against him after his claims that Riniki Bhuyan holds multiple foreign passports and undisclosed assets abroad.
A team of Assam Police on Tuesday visited Khera’s residence in Delhi, but he was not present there.
Police also put up barricades and placed security outside the residence of Pawan Khera and his wife, Neelima’s house in Hyderabad.
The Congress leader has been under the radar of Assam Police after his sensational charges against Chief Minister Sarma’s wife and has also been booked under 14 sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including defamation, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
The controversy began after Pawan Khera’s press conference on Sunday, in which he claimed that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma held three passports, undeclared luxury properties in Dubai and also shell companies in the US.
Pawan Khera, who has been untraceable after the press conference, on Wednesday demanded that the Chief Minister reply to grave charges against him and his wife, rather than muscle-flexing and “hiding behind the state police”.
In a video statement, he said that he won’t be intimidated by such tactics and will keep asking questions.
Congress shared Pawan Khera’s video statement on its X account, purportedly recorded from an undisclosed location, in which its Media and Publicity Department Chairman tells the Assam Chief Minister, “Instead of clarifying on grave allegations, you have unleashed your police. But we, the soldiers of Rahul Gandhi, won’t get cowed down.”
