GUWAHATI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at the Guwahati residence and office of arrested RTI activist and leader of peasants’ body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samitee (KMSS) Akhil Gogoi and seized various documents including books.
The searches at both places continued for 2-3 hours. It was learnt that his PAN card, an SBI debit card, electoral photo identity card and a bank passbook were among the documents seized from his residence at Nizarapara area. His wife Gitashree Tamuly said files marked as “Credit-deposit ratio KMSS file misc”, “Jail 2015”, “Jail diary 2014” and “NHPC LSHEP 2015” etc were also seized.
She said she had asked for copies of the seized documents but the request was turned down by the NIA officials. They had also sought documents pertaining to the orchid environment park of the KMSS at Kaziranga from her but she expressed ignorance on those.
The NIA officials had seized some books, written on Mao Zedong and Marxism, and leaflets of the KMSS from the office of the peasants’ body at Gandhibasti area.
Gogoi, who was in ten days’ custody of the NIA, was brought to Guwahati from Delhi for production in an NIA court. It sent him to 14 days’ judicial custody.
He was arrested by the police from Upper Assam’s Jorhat in the wake of the protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and later handed over to the NIA in a case registered with Chandmari police station in Guwahati pertaining to his alleged linkage with the CPI (Maoist).
The NIA had booked him under several sections of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act including sedition, intention to cause riot against national integration, punishment for criminal conspiracy and unlawful association.
Prior to his arrest, he was very critical of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is now a law. He had made an appeal to the people to come out of their homes and register protests against it saying crores of Bangladeshis would migrate to Assam.
Meanwhile, protesters against the CAA said by arresting Gogoi, the government was trying to muzzle voices of protest. They demanded his immediate release.