BJP MLA Pijush Hazarika files police case against Tarun Gogoi over accusations against Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: BJP MLA Pijush Hazarika on Tuesday filed a police complaint against former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi for reportedly accusing Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of being involved in a number of financial and criminal cases when he was a minister in his cabinet. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Dispur) Sujit Saikia confirming the filing of the complaint, told PTI that Hazarika has complained against Gogoi alleging that if the reported statements made by him at a press conference in New Delhi are true, then he (Gogoi) colluded with Sarma and saved him after he committed a series of crimes. [caption id=“attachment_2209860” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi. PTI[/caption] He said a case has not been registered as yet. “It is kept for enquiry before registering the FIR … It is difficult to register a case in Dispur police station because the original cases, which are mentioned in the complaint, were all registered in different other places. The investigation of those is on.” Talking to reporters after filing the complaint, Hazarika told reporters that Gogoi had taken an oath of office secrecy and for safeguarding the constitutional values after becoming the chief minister. “Gogoi said that there were irregularities committed by Sarma, who was in the Congress government for 15 years. Now if that has happened, it means Gogoi is also a culprit and did not fulfil his constitutional obligation. It is an abatement of the crime then,” said the BJP MLA, who was also a Congress legislator in Gogoi’s period. Last week, after Sarma charged Gogoi on the floor of the House for practising ‘hit-and-run’ inside Assam Assembly by not listening to the replies after making allegations, the former chief minister reportedly told a press conference in the national capital that he had saved the BJP minister on a number of occasions. Gogoi had also reportedly alleged that Sarma had joined Congress from AASU to save himself from a TADA case and later joined BJP to be free of Saradha ponzi scheme cases and Louis Berger bribery cases. The former chief minister had also reportedly claimed that he had overlooked Sarma’s involvement in the Rs 1,000 crore North Cachar Hills scam.