New Delhi: Well-known right to information activist from Assam, Bhaben Handique, was summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to its office in the outskirts of Guwahati on May 9 for interrogation in relation to a case lodged last December against anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protesters, which included peasant leader Akhil Gogoi.The summon, issued under Section 160 of the criminal procedure code by NIA deputy SP J.S. Rautela, has come two days after Handique and a few anti-CAA protesters were called for interrogation by the Assam Police’s crime branch.Speaking to The Wire, Handique, also the convenor of a civil society organisation Swaraj Asom, said he received a notice from the NIA on May 8. Though he sought time from the central agency due to the government’s social distancing norms, he was asked to present himself at noon at the NIA’s Sonapur office. The interrogation went on for about three hours.Handique said, “The questioning of the NIA officials on May 9 was on the same pattern as that of the state police’s crime branch. I was asked about my association with Akhil Gogoi since my college days and that with the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS). I was asked why I left KMSS some years ago, supported the Aam Aadmi Party in Assam in 2013 and left it. I was also asked about Gogoi’s ‘Maoist links’.”Handique said he was summoned both by the state police and the NIA “only because of my anti-CAA stand and questioning the government’s policies and its top ministers from time to time.” In March, Handique was among several activists from Gogoi-headed KMSS and allied organisations who were questioned by the state crime branch in relation to the anti-CAA protest last December. Handique had then reportedly said he was asked about his previous association with Akhil Gogoi and KMSS and why he chose to be associated with the AAP.Also read: The Delhi Violence FIRs Are Like Blank Cheques, to be Encashed By the Police Any TimeSignificantly, Handique has been at the forefront of filing RTIs in relation to the multi-crore Louis Berger scam in the state during the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress regime, including contacting the FBI for access to papers related to it. The present health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was then in the Congress and in charge of the Guwahati Development Department (GDD), where the alleged scam took place.Though the BJP, in July 2015, had released a booklet at its New Delhi office at a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – accusing Sarma as “a key suspect” in the scam related to a Guwahati water supply project where the services of the multinational construction management company Louis Berger International Inc was associated – the probe in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation slowed down following Sarma’s move to the BJP prior to the 2016 Assam assembly polls.In April, Handique also pointed out in a Facebook post the Central government’s observation during a national preparedness survey on COVID-19 that seven districts of Assam have a lack of personal protection equipment (PPE) and medical facilities and “basic medical accessories such as masks, sanitisers, etc.”.Handique also stated, “I was targeted also because I have maintained good relations with KMSS leaders.” Along with others, Handique had also visited the Guwahati central jail to meet Gogoi following reports of his illness.KMSS leaders had taken a strong anti-CAA stand and were leading rallies mainly in rural areas targeting the BJP-led state government and the RSS last December. Several top KMSS leaders including Gogoi have thereafter been accused of ‘Maoist’ links by the NIA, leading to their long incarceration.Several prominent members of the civil society in Assam and elsewhere have urged the state chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, to release them on humanitarian grounds keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.
