Himanta Claims Gaurav Gogoi's Wife Has 'Good Relations' With Pakistan Army

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday alleged that Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's wife Elizabeth Colburn has "good relations" with Pakistan Army.

Addressing a press conference, Sarma claimed that Colburn had travelled 19 times between India and Pakistan, and Pakistan Army officials had accompanied her in the neighbouring country.

"She worked in Pakistan and then came to Delhi to work in a non-governmental organisation but continued receiving her salary from Pakistan," the CM alleged.

Sarma claimed that even Gogoi had visited Pakistan "in personal and not official capacity" and stayed there for 15 days.

"His wife accompanied him but she returned after seven days, while Gogoi stayed for another seven days. He must explain what he did in Pakistan for 15 days," the CM said.

"It has to be ascertained what he did in Pakistan and whether he helped their army directly or indirectly. The context of the visit has to be established," Sarma said.

"Questions are being raised about Prime Minister Narendra Modi going to Pakistan but he had gone there in an official capacity. If Gogoi had gone there as part of an official delegation, we would not have raised questions but he went there in his personal capacity and we would like to know who received him in that country," he said.

The chief minister claimed that the Special Investigation Team (SIT), inquiring into links between Pakistan national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh and his partners in India, has completed the investigation and "we have evidence that he (Gogoi) had gone through the Wagah-Attari border".

"We, however, need to complete the statutory provisions to authenticate the data and this requires time. We have already started the process and by September 10, we will complete it," he added.

Sarma claimed that the SIT had "gone to the necessary places... but there is a procedure to collect the evidence".

The Congress MP, during a visit to Israel, had reported that he had lost his passport and this has led to "loss of valuable data", Sarma claimed.

Gogoi, after his return from Pakistan, had also taken 90 youth to the Pakistan embassy and many of them later claimed they were not told beforehand that they were being taken there, Sarma said.

"This was done with the purpose of radicalising the youth," he alleged.

In his family, only Gogoi is an Indian national and he has surrendered the Indian citizenship of his two children, the CM claimed.

"After we get the documentary evidence, we will present it to the Prime Minister's Office and once the case is handed over to a central agency, there will be more space for investigation," he said.

"The Assam government has limited jurisdiction over the matter and can dig up to a certain point," he added.

Though no immediate reaction was received from Gogoi, the Congress leader had earlier accused Sarma of indulging in politics by dragging his family, wife and children into the matter.

"The Congress, on the other hand, is doing politics for the people, for poor children and unemployed youth of Assam. The children are not getting textbooks in schools. Poor parents are being compelled to sell their children to smuggling networks due to extreme poverty. The school dropout rate is very high," he said.

He had also asked what happened to the probe of the SIT, formed to investigate his and his wife's alleged Pakistan links, and dared the Assam CM to make the findings public.

The Assam CM has been attacking the Deputy Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha over his wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency ISI.