Assam SIT questions British High Commission staff over alleged Pakistan links of Gaurav Gogoi
Guwahati: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Assam Police on Sunday questioned two staff members of the British High Commission in Delhi regarding Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged links with Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.
According to the police, the SIT sought information on the staffers’ connections with Sheikh, who has been named in an FIR for allegedly attempting to destabilise communal harmony. Sheikh is also being investigated for purportedly seeking sensitive national security-related information. An environmental scientist has also been questioned in connection with the case.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the SIT has made progress in its probe into the alleged Pakistani links of Gogoi and his wife. He claimed that Sheikh had visited India multiple times with delegations from Pakistan, including the country’s attorney general, and had shown a keen interest in Assam’s politics through controversial social media posts. According to Sarma, Sheikh and his associates stayed in small hotels to avoid public attention.
The Chief Minister added that the Assam Police may seek Interpol’s assistance if necessary and that he has briefed Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the developments.
Following the registration of the case, the Assam Director General of Police formed a four-member SIT to conduct a "professional and objective investigation." The SIT has been authorised to include inspectors, sub-inspectors, and other necessary personnel as required.
Responding to the allegations, Gaurav Gogoi, the MP from Jorhat, said he was open to any investigation. Addressing CM Sarma’s claim that he had met former Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and later raised questions on national security and defence in Parliament, Gogoi clarified that the meeting was a routine diplomatic interaction and that BJP MPs had also asked similar questions in Parliament.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
