A letter, bearing the “forged” signature of Union ports and shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal and criticising the BJP-led Assam government and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has prompted Sonowal’s official staff to lodge a complaint with the Delhi police on Monday seeking action against those involved in the act.

Taking to his X handle, Sonowal said a “forged letter” on his official letterhead and bearing his “fake signature” was being circulated by criminals with “malafide intent” and he has lodged a police complaint requesting enforcement agencies “to investigate the case on priority and take strict legal action against those responsible”.

Sonowal, Sarma’s immediate predecessor, posted his clarification along with the “forged” letter, dated January 15.

The complaint was lodged with the SHO, Parliament street police station, New Delhi, by Sonowal’s assistant private secretary, M.C. Lahkar, seeking registration of an FIR against those responsible for the “serious forgery” with the “malafide intent to cause political disharmony in an election-bound state and for causing disrepute to a cabinet minister”.

Assam goes to polls in March-April.

The state BJP also clarified the letter was fake along with the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, but the letter’s hard-hitting criticism of the present regime had already created a flurry in political and media circles by then.

The “fake” letter started doing the rounds on Monday, few days after a statement made by Sarma at a public rally claiming state government recruitments before 2021 were allegedly not entirely clean, a statement seen as a criticism of past regimes.