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New Delhi: Assam Police on Tuesday, April 7, conducted searches at the Delhi residence of Congress leader Pawan Khera in connection with a case linked to allegations made against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family, even as the CM claimed Khera had “run away to Hyderabad.”

The Assam Police team formally informed Delhi Police upon arrival, following which a local police team joined and assisted in the proceedings. The searches were carried out at Khera’s residence in the Nizamuddin area, according to Hindustan Times.

“We have searched his house. We can’t give more details,” Dr Debajit Nath, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Assam Police, told HT.

Allegations that triggered FIR

The police action follows a political firestorm that erupted after Congress held two press conferences in Delhi and Guwahati on Sunday, April 5, where Khera and Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi alleged that Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma holds passports of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda, owns property in Dubai and has a company registered in Wyoming, United States.

Sarma’s wife subsequently lodged a first information report (FIR) with the Crime Branch of the Assam Police against Khera and others over the allegations. On Sunday night, Sarma also filed a separate case in Guwahati against Khera and others seeking action against what he called “fake allegations.”

Pawan Khera ran away: Himanta Sarma

Sarma on Monday, April 6, accused Congress of using documents from a social media group linked to Pakistan to fabricate the alleged passports. “All the data which was used to fabricate the alleged passports was taken from a social media group called Pakistanis in Ajman [Facebook],” he said at a press conference, adding that Pakistani news channels had run several talk shows on the Assam election in the past 10 days.

“It shows that there is a conspiracy hatched in the neighbouring country to influence the results of the Assam election,” Sarma said.

The Assam CM warned that since the allegations were made just ahead of the April 9 Assembly election and could influence its outcome, they were more serious than a simple defamation case and could lead to “life imprisonment.”

Sarma claimed Khera had fled to Hyderabad after the police arrived at his Delhi residence. “He ran away from Guwahati yesterday. I have come to know through the media that the police have gone to his residence in Delhi, but he has run away to Hyderabad. The law will take its own course,” he told reporters at a public rally.

Riniki Bhuyan hits back at Gogoi

Responding to a questionnaire from Gogoi, Riniki Bhuyan took to X to deny all allegations. “Neither I, nor my children, nor my husband have any business interests or assets in Dubai or anywhere outside India,” she wrote, before turning the tables on Gogoi. “Can you disclose whether your wife has or has ever had a bank account in Pakistan? And will you make those details public?”

She also pointed out an apparent inconsistency in Congress’ claims. “Also interesting how, within 24 hours, you’ve already climbed down from your claim of a ‘golden visa on an Egyptian passport’ to now talking about an ‘Indian passport’,” she added.

Witch hunt, says Congress

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sought clarification from the central government and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over the passport allegations, saying the party would “face whatever happens.”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, called the police action a “witch hunt” and said the deployment of a “full army of police officials to arrest Pawan Khera for asking basic questions in the public interest proves that the Assam CM is disturbed, desperate, and rattled.”

“This is not due process but instead a witch hunt, a bully using state machinery to muzzle and silence the voice of the opposition that is exposing his many black deeds,” Ramesh said, adding that the action proved Sarma was “facing imminent defeat.”