Guwahati: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on Congress leader Pawan Khera’s plea seeking anticipatory bail in a case linked to allegations that Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife possessed multiple passports and undisclosed properties abroad.A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar reserved its verdict after Khera argued that denial of anticipatory bail would defeat the very purpose of pre-arrest protection.Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Khera, said the allegations against him are a matter of trial and it was not necessary to humiliate him by arrest. He submitted that out of the total sections invoked against him, some are bailable while others don’t require his arrest.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam govt, opposed the plea and said Khera showed fake and doctored copies of passports of the chief minister’s wife. He said Khera has been absconding and releasing videos and all the allegations about the chief minister’s wife holding multiple citizenships are false.Khera has challenged the April 24 order of the Gauhati High Court denying him anticipatory bail.Following the allegations, the CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, filed criminal cases against Khera and others at the Guwahati Crime Branch police station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The Telangana high court had earlier granted Khera a seven-day transit anticipatory bail, but Assam Police moved the Supreme Court against it. The apex court passed an interim order to stay the grant of anticipatory transit bail and asked Khera to approach the Gauhati HC.
