Daijiworld Media Network - Guwahati

Guwahati, Feb 10: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday filed a Rs 500-crore defamation case against senior Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Gaurav Gogoi, accusing them of making “false” and “malicious” allegations regarding his land holdings.

The move comes amid heightened political activity in Assam ahead of assembly elections scheduled later this year. The controversy began last week after Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi claimed that a party probe had found that nearly 12,000 bighas of land across the state were allegedly occupied by Sarma and his family members.

Within hours of the allegations, Sarma had announced his intention to initiate legal action, stating that the claims were made without any supporting evidence. The defamation suit, seeking damages of Rs 500 crore, was formally filed on Tuesday.

“Today, I have filed a defamation case seeking Rs 500 crore in damages against Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Gaurav Gogoi for making false, malicious and defamatory allegations against me through a press conference,” Sarma said in a post on social media.

Earlier, the chief minister had asserted that he would not be intimidated by what he described as propaganda, slander and political theatrics by “slaves of the Gandhi family”. The BJP leader, who quit the Congress in 2015, said the era of “hit-and-run politics” was over and challenged his critics to prove their allegations in a court of law.

Meanwhile, the political temperature in the state has risen further after Sarma levelled fresh allegations against Gogoi, claiming that the Congress leader and his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, had “deep links” with a Pakistani national, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. Sarma suggested that sensitive information may have been passed to Pakistan.

The Congress strongly rejected the allegations, stating that Sarma had no documentary evidence to back his claims and accusing him of losing his “mental balance”.