Gauhati High Court on Friday rejected Congress leader Pawan Khera's anticipatory bail petition in a case registered by the Assam police in Guwahati on a complaint lodged by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma over his claim that she possessed multiple passports and undisclosed foreign assets.

The hearing in connection with the bail plea was held on April 21 and the order rejecting the anticipatory bail plea was delivered on Friday by Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia.

"This court is of the opinion that under the given circumstances, this case cannot be termed as a case of defamation simpliciter. There are materials for a prima facie case under Section 339 of the BNS, 2023, and the petitioner has been avoiding police investigation.

"For the aforesaid reasons, this court is again of the opinion that custodial interrogation is necessary in this case to find out who are the associates of Mr Khera, who had collected those documents for him and how and from where they had collected those documents," the order said.

Section 339 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, deals with possession of forged documents or electronic records, knowing they are forged and intending to use them as genuine for fraud. It is an offence punishable by a fine or jail term of seven years or a life term, depending on the nature of forgery.

Rejecting Khera's petition, Justice Saikia's order stated: ”…There are no materials in this case to suggest that the accusations brought against the present petitioner are intended to injure and humiliate the applicant/petitioner by having him arrested. Under the aforesaid premised reasons, this court holds that the petitioner Shri Pawan Khera does not deserve to be given the privilege of anticipatory bail. Accordingly, his prayer for pre-arrest bail is rejected."

A Guwahati-based member of Khera's legal team said they will challenge the rejection.