New Delhi: A special National Investigative Agency court in Guwahati on Thursday remanded peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who had been arrested by the agency, to judicial custody for 14 days. The special court also turned down NIA’s plea to extend his custody for 10 days.He was arrested by the NIA from Jorhat on December 12, when large-scale protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act were rocking Assam, under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.Earlier in the day, the NIA raided the residence of Gogoi, who is also an RTI activist, at Nizarapara area here and seized several documents and a laptop computer, officials said.The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader, whose NIA custody was to end on Friday, was brought from New Delhi and produced before the court here.Gogoi was instrumental in mobilising protests across several districts in upper Assam against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act.Also read: Peasant Leader Akhil Gogoi’s Mother Goes on Hunger Strike Demanding His ReleaseThe Sonowal government has activated a case registered against Gogoi in 2009 by the Congress government. Gogoi has been in the crosshairs of the Congress government as well and was sent to jail a couple of times under various charges. The Sonowal government, in 2017 and in September 2019, charged Gogoi with sedition but both the times, the Gauhati high court set aside the allegations and released him.A state intelligence report, based on which the 2009 case was registered against Gogoi, alleged that he had links to Maoist organisations. In 2010, reacting to it, Gogoi reportedly said that he “is a Marxist but not a Maoist”.(With PTI inputs)
