Pawan Khera out of wind as Gauhati HC denies bail, Himanta plays silent, BJP strikes hard

Hours after the Gauhati High Court rejected Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera’s anticipatory bail plea, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday held his fire on the case, citing election protocol. However, another BJP leader, Shehzad Poonawalla, fired a volley of questions at Rahul Gandhi, demanding to know who supplied Khera with what the court has prima facie found to be false documents.

The court’s order, which has made pointed observations about an “innocent lady being dragged into controversy”, has handed the BJP a significant political moment, even as Khera’s whereabouts remain unclear and Congress has stayed conspicuously silent.

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Sarma invokes MCC, says Assam Police will handle the rest

Chief Minister Sarma, whose wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma filed the original FIR after Khera’s April 5 press conference in Guwahati, was careful not to overplay his hand.

“I don’t want to comment because the Model Code of Conduct is in place. Whatever the outcome of the case will be, it is entirely up to the Assam Police. I will review the case only after 4th May if I come back to power,” he said.

#WATCH | On the Gauhati High Court rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of Congress leader Pawan Khera, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma says, “I don’t want to comment because the Model Code of Conduct is in place. Whatever the outcome of the case will be, it is entirely up to the… pic.twitter.com/bxAsW7kPs9

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2026

Shehzad Poonawalla goes after Rahul Gandhi: ‘Who gave Khera these documents?’

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla was less restrained. Citing the court’s findings from the order copy accessed by journalists, he laid out three key observations the HC had made: that Khera had not proved beyond doubt that Riniki Bhuyan Sharma held passports of three foreign countries or had opened a company in the US; that he had dragged “an innocent lady into controversy for political mileage”; and that custodial interrogation was necessary.

From there, Poonawalla turned the screws on the Congress leadership directly.

“Who gave Khera these documents? Was there a foreign angle? Why did Rahul Gandhi back such things? Should Congress not sack a person who makes such forgeries?” he asked in a post on X, also questioning where Khera was and calling him “bheegi billi.”

Not only has Gauhati HC Denied anticipatory bail to Pawan Khera but it has made scathing findings as per order copy accessed by journalists

1) Pawan Khera has not yet proved beyond doubt that Assam Chief Minister’s wife had passports of three other countries or had opened a… pic.twitter.com/0ByK14JOfo

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Chowkidar as per INC ecosystem) (@Shehzad_Ind) April 24, 2026

What the Gauhati HC actually ruled

Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia, dismissing the bail application, held that the case “cannot be termed as a case of defamation simpliciter” and that there are sufficient materials to indicate a prima facie offence under Section 339 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The court found that the documents Khera relied upon at his Guwahati press conference, where he made allegations about Riniki Bhuyan Sharma holding foreign passports and running an overseas company, appear, based on the investigation so far, to be false.

Crucially, the court noted that after the FIR was lodged, Khera did not come forward to assert that the documents had been falsely attributed to him by the police, an omission the bench said lends weight to the prosecution at this stage. The court also recorded that Khera had been avoiding the investigation, which weighed against granting pre-arrest relief.

Custodial interrogation, it held, is necessary to establish who collected the documents, how they were sourced, and whether any larger conspiracy was involved.