Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah was grilled by Jorhat police for three hours on Wednesday in connection with the suo motu case registered against him and other Congress leaders.
The case was registered for allegedly deviating from the permitted Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra route in the Jorhat leading to chaos and damage to public property on January 18, the first day of the Assam leg of the Yatra.
Borah told media persons he was grilled for three hours and that he has been summoned again on February 12.
He was accompanied to the police station by a few senior party leaders, including Debabrata Saikia, party workers and around seven members of the PCC legal team.
Jorhat is about 298km from Guwahati.
Kankan Das, the PCC spokesperson, told The Telegraph that the police had shown him videos about the incident and asked him about what happened that day.
“The PCC president too asked them why he was booked under non-bailable sections like abetment and the PPDP Act. He did not apply for anticipatory bail because he wanted to cooperate with the police. He has been summoned on February 12,” Das said.
The Jorhat police had served notice on Borah under 41(A) of the CrPC last Thursday in connection with the Jorhat PS Case No. 20/2024 because there were “reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain facts and circumstances from you” in relation to the ongoing investigation.
The notice said failure to appear or comply with the terms of the notice can render Borah “liable for arrest under Section 41 A (3) and (4) of the CrPC”.
He has been booked under various IPC sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, abetment of an offence, unlawful assembly, rioting, violating order promulgated by public servant criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty along with Sec. 3 of and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.
He was asked to appear before the investigating officer on Wednesday at 11am.
The police had slapped the case against the organisers of the Rahul Gandhi-led Yatra because it did not take the approved route.
The Assam leg of the Yatra drew attention for the alleged denial of permission for grounds and padayatra by the administration, and attacks on Yatra vehicles and senior leaders in North Bank by miscreants.
The sudden change of route led to traffic disruption and a clash with security personnel as Congress members and supporters allegedly broke through barricades put up on the Gar Ali Road in Jorhat town on January 18 afternoon.
The case has been filed, among others, against K.B. Byju, who is part of Rahul’s personal security team, and PCC working president Rana Goswami.
Borah appeared to be in a combative mood, questioning the police role at the place of diversion, targetting chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and asking why no action had been taken against the man who head-butted him in Jamugurihart, leaving him with a bleeding nose, or the policeman who assaulted him at Khanapara in Guwahati where a similar incident of route diversion took place.
He also urged Congressmen to “prepare to fight both the legal and electoral battle (Lok Sabha polls) which is a mere 100 days away because the administration will try to keep them busy with cases”.
Asserting he was not scared to go to jail for a cause, Borah claimed before the media that the police did not inform the Yatra leaders/organisers that they were diverting from the permitted route in Jorhat. He claimed there was hardly any policeman to be seen at the place of diversion nor any policeman to guide the Yatra.