Guwahati, April 5 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday that he and his wife will take legal action against Congress leader Pawan Khera for making "false allegations" that she has multiple passports and owns properties in Dubai, which were not mentioned in his poll affidavit.
Sarma also claimed that there were "serious discrepancies" in the documents shared by Khera, which suggests that it was a "crude and poorly executed attempt at digital manipulation".
Responding to the charges made by Khera against the CM's spouse Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi said that holding multiple passports and failure to disclose properties is a grave and criminal offence.
Just four days before Assam goes to vote on April 9, Khera alleged at a press conference in New Delhi that Sarma's wife holds three passports of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Antigua-Barbuda and Egypt, which expire on March 2027, August 2031 and February 2029, respectively.
The chairman of AICC’s Media Publicity and Communication also alleged that Sarma’s wife has "two properties in Dubai which clearly mention Riniki Bhuyan Sarma as the property owner" but neither is mentioned in the CM's affidavits submitted to the ECI along with his nomination paper.
The chief minister, listing "discrepancies" in the documents circulated by Khera, said in a post on X: "Busting Congress’ propaganda—serious discrepancies exposed. The documents being circulated show multiple glaring inconsistencies, suggesting a crude and poorly executed attempt at digital manipulation''.
He said the Congress used ‘Sarma’ as his wife’s surname instead of the official 'Sharma'.
''The photograph appears to be a publicly available image, not a standard biometric capture," the CM said.
In the alleged UAE passport, the country code shown in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) reflects a different country code while the ID sequence was inconsistent, he said.
In the Antigua and Barbuda passport, there is a mismatch in the ''expiry date between printed field and MRZ'', he said.
There is an inconsistency in the Egyptian passport, as there is a mismatch in the passport number between the printed field and MRZ, Sarma said.
''There are also spelling errors (“Egyptiann”) and incorrect Arabic reference,'' he said.
The title deed QR code appears invalid and does not resolve to any authentic record, Sarma added.
''These inconsistencies strongly indicate possible fabrication or digital manipulation. Truth will prevail. Those spreading misinformation will be held accountable,'' the CM said.
Sarma asserted that he was confident that Khera’s ''campaign of falsehood is nearing its end. Eventually Mr Khera will go to Jail''.
His wife said that she expected a spokesperson of a national party to exercise basic due diligence, rather than ''circulate poorly fabricated images of imaginary passports and documents''.
Bhuyan Sharma said in a post on X that law will now take over and ''criminal charges are being initiated. We can continue this in court''.
The state Congress President said, ''shocking allegations have come out related to Himanta Biswa Sarma. Holding multiple passports and failure to disclose properties is a grave and criminal offence.''
''How much money have they sent from Assam to their bank accounts abroad? More investigation is required,'' Gogoi said in a post on X.
He claimed that Sarma has become an 'embarrassment for the state of Assam and India, and he will have to pay for his crime.