Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided arrested KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi’s house and office here on Thursday and seized several documents and a laptop.
A police official said an NIA team carried out search operations at Akhil’s house at Nizarapar here from 7am and seized documents and a laptop while another team carried out a raid at the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) office at Gandhibasti and seized books and files. The two areas are located at a distance of 1km.
During the three-hour raid, the sleuths seized copies of his identity cards, registration certificate of Orchid Park (of which he is the founder) in Kaziranga, a bank passbook, a file with the name tag “Credit-deposit ratio KMSS file Misc”, a diary which he had written in jail in 2017, a debit card, a file related to NHPC Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project and a laptop. All these were seized from the library in his house.
Akhil’s wife Gitashree Tamuly said the team came early in the morning. “They asked me why we were protesting when the Japanese Prime Minister was scheduled to come to Assam. They asked me for several documents, including the files of Orchid Park, NHPC and documents related to a private Assamese news channel (about which Akhil had purportedly gathered information). They checked the files and took some documents,” she said, adding that the team also took a dairy Akhil had written in jail and on the basis of which he wanted to write a book about his experiences in jail. She claimed that despite her repeated requests, the team denied her a copy of the diary. “The team also asked me if Akhil had met any extremist during his stay in jail,” she added.
During the raid at the KMSS office too, the sleuths seized several books and files.
After the twin raids, Akhil was produced in the NIA special court in Guwahati. The NIA asked for his custody but the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody.
Akhil was first arrested by Assam police on December 12. On December 17, he was handed over to the NIA, which arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), produced in a special NIA court and sent to 10-day custody. The next day he was flown to Delhi. He was brought back to Guwahati on Wednesday night and produced in the NIA court on Thursday morning.
During the day, a two-member CID team, along with a massive team of CRPF and Sivasagar police, also raided arrested Lachit Sena leader Shrinkhal Chaliha’s house at Phukan Nagar in Sivasagar town. A source said the CID didn’t find any objectionable document but seized Chaliha’s mother’s mobile phone for “investigative” purposes.
Chaliha’s father, Pranabjit, said the government wants to create a sense of fear among the people of the state who are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). “These are tactics to keep people off protests but we should not fear these things. We should carry on our movement to protect our community,” he added.
Chaliha was arrested by the CID on December 23 for allegedly making provocative statements while protesting against CAA. He has been booked under Sections 120(A), 120(B), 121, 121(A), 122, 123, 143, 147, 148, 150, 152, 153, 153(A), 326, 333 and 353 of the IPC. He was produced in court the next day and sent to two-day CID custody. He was again produced in court on Thursday morning and sent to two-day custody.
Both Akhil and Chaliha were leading anti-CAA protests. Their arrests have been termed as political conspiracy by several organisations.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has demanded Akhil’s unconditional release and termed the government’s steps to prevent its employees from making political statements or carrying out protests against the government as “fascism”.