The Telangana High Court on Friday granted interim relief to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, allowing him one week of anticipatory bail in a case filed by Assam Police over his allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

While hearing the plea, Justice Sujana Kalasikam said, "The petitioner is granted time for one week to file an application before the concerned court. Granting relief to the petitioner for one week with the conditions."

The development comes a day after the hearing was deferred to allow the Assam Advocate General to present arguments, as confirmed by TPCC Legal Cell advocate Ponnam Ashok Goud.

What Happened?

An FIR was registered against Pawan Khera at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station under multiple provisions of the BNS, including 175 (false statement related to elections), 35 (right of private defence), and 318 (cheating).

The controversy began on April 5, when Khera alleged that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma possessed multiple passports and foreign assets that were not disclosed in the election affidavit of Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Escalating the row, Khera on April 8 accused the Assam Chief Minister of “unleashing” the police instead of responding to the opposition’s questions on the matter.

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The remarks followed a search operation by an Assam Police team at Khera’s residence in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area on April 7. The FIR came after a complaint filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, who alleged that forged documents were used to target her.

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In a video message, Khera maintained that the Congress had only asked questions and would continue to do so. “Scaring others may be your habit, but getting scared is not ours,” he said, adding that he was evading the police as he had “more questions to ask".

Meanwhile, Himanta Biswa Sarma hit back at the Congress, accusing it of “not verifying” the documents used to make the allegations. He also claimed that Khera had “run away” to Hyderabad and asserted that the Assam Police would “hunt him down even from ‘pataal’ (the netherworld)".

( With inputs from agencies )