Barricades At Pawan Khera's Hyderabad Home As Assam Cops Search For Him

Where is Pawan Khera? the Assam Police appear to be asking.

The Congress leader was last seen in public on April 5. The same day Khera accused Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma's wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, of having three passports - from India, the UAE, and Egypt - and owning undisclosed luxury properties in Dubai, along with a company in Wyoming, USA.

This was four days before Assam polls.

A fierce blowback followed.

Two days later, on Tuesday, a team from Assam Police landed at the Congress leader's home in Nizamuddin East in the national capital.

Khera, the chief of Congress' Media and Publicity Department, was in Hyderabad, sources told NDTV.

After a search op of nearly two hours, the cops left with "some incriminating material" and electronic devices.

The searches followed the FIR filed by Sarma's wife into the matter on Monday.

On Wednesday, Assam Police said they are still trying to track Pawan Khera.

Meanwhile in Hyderabad, police have put up barricades and placed security outside the residence of Pawan Khera and his wife Neelima's house in Banjara hills.

Sources in city police say they have not been contacted by Assam police yet. They will cooperate if Asam police come and serve notice, they said.

Pawan Khera may approach court for relief from arrest, sources have told NDTV.

He has run away to Hyderabad, Himanta Sarma scoffed yesterday, adding "law will take its own course".

"Assam Police can find and bring people from 'pataal' as well," the Chief Minister, visibly angry, doubled down.

At the start of the week, Sarma had vowed to take "stringent action" against Pawan Khera.

"I will take stringent action against Congress leader Pawan Khera. Just wait for a few days. We will win at least 100 seats in the elections," Sarma said, rejecting allegations against his wife.