"Law will take its own course": Himanta Biswa Sarma welcomes SC's stay on transit bail to Khera

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], April 15 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to stay one week's transit bail granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera, in connection with the FIR filed by Riniki Bhuyan Sharma over the passport row.

When asked about Congress MP Rahul Gandhi demanding a probe into multiple passports allegations against Himanta's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, the Chief Minister asked the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha to disclose his passport in public.

CM Sarma said, "According to me, the Telangana Court cannot grant transit bail as he is not a resident of Telangana. The law will take its own course... Will he (Rahul Gandhi) say the same if I level such allegations against him? Before speaking, Rahul Gandhi must remember that he is not god. He should disclose his passport before the media, and I will also present my wife's passport."

The Supreme Court today stayed the Telangana High Court's order granting one-week transit anticipatory bail to Congress leader Pawan Khera, while issuing notice to him on a plea filed by the Assam government challenging the relief.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar issued notice to Khera seeking a response within three weeks on a plea filed by the Assam government seeking a stay of the anticipatory (transit) bail granted to him by the Telangana High Court. The bench, however, noted that in case Khera wants to apply for anticipatory bail in Assam, today's apex court order would not come in the way.

Khera had alleged that CM Sarma's wife holds three passports, from India, the UAE, and Egypt, and owns undisclosed luxury properties in Dubai, along with a company in Wyoming, USA. The Sarma family has strongly denied these claims and filed an FIR against the Congress leader.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had asserted that the party stands with party leader Pawan Khera. In an X post, Rahul Gandhi called Himanta Biswa Sarma the "most corrupt" CM in the country and demanded a probe into allegations levelled by Congress.

"The present CM of Assam is the most corrupt in the country. He will not escape the law. His abuse of state power to harass his political opponents and critics is against the Constitution. The questions that are being raised have to be probed. Transparency, accountability of power and the rule of law are the basis of our Constitutional values. The Congress Party stands with Pawan Khera. We will not be intimidated," Gandhi wrote on X on Monday.

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