"It's Damning": Himanta Sarma On Probe Report On Congress Leader Gaurav Gogoi's 'Pak Link'

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma placed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) report, probing into the alleged Pakistani links of Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi through his wife, in the state cabinet today. He said the cabinet has decided to make the gist of the report public soon.

"The state cabinet had some informal discussion on the SIT report at its cabinet meeting. We will disclose its contents to the press after a few days. All I can say is that it's a very damning and damaging report," Sarma said.

Gogoi, the Assam Congress president, has been claiming that the probe is politically motivated.

"We are planning to announce the details on a large scale. Since he (Gogoi) is also the Congress's deputy leader in Lok Sabha, people from all over the country should know his actual character," said the Chief Minister.

The SIT, led by Special DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta, formally submitted the report to the chief minister on September 10. It was set up on February 17 to investigate the activities of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh and his associates. The Assam Chief Minister in past had claimed that Sheikh had links to Gaurav Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, a British national.

Gaurav Gogoi has denied having any links to Pakistan, though he admitted that he did travel to Pakistan in 2013 when his wife was employed there as part of a climate change project.

Sarma had earlier claimed that the SIT has ''established the involvement of a British national - who is also married to an Indian Member of Parliament - in the larger nefarious activities of Pakistan national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh".