The apex court instructed Khera to approach a court of competent jurisdiction in Assam for anticipatory bail related to the case.
During a press conference on April 5, Khera accused the Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, of holding multiple passports and foreign assets that were not declared in Sarma’s election affidavit for the upcoming Assembly polls on April 9 in that state. Both the CM and his wife have dismissed these allegations as unfounded and fabricated.
A bench consisting of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar acknowledged the arguments made by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Khera, and urged the Assam court that will consider Khera’s plea to disregard any adverse remarks made by the top court and the Telangana High Court in this matter.
The bench further requested that the Assam courts handle Khera’s plea promptly.
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On April 15, the Supreme Court paused a Telangana High Court order that granted Khera one week of transit anticipatory bail in the matter.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Assam government, argued that there was a lack of territorial jurisdiction and noted that Khera’s plea did not provide a justification for approaching the Telangana High Court.
The case against Khera was registered at the Guwahati Crime Branch police station under sections 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 35 (right of private defence of the body and of property), and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
