The party on Thursday claimed that Congress leader Pawan Khera was allegedly taken to Raipur in Chhattisgarh by his Indigo Airlines flight. Khera was accompanied by several other Congress leaders as they were on their way to the party’s plenary session. After Kheda landed, the leaders also got off the plane. Khera was dropped off at Terminal 1 of the Delhi airport.
The Congress has also alleged that Pawan Kheda has been detained by the Assam Police. While tweeting the video of the leader being taken into custody, leader Supriya Shrinet wrote, “Assam police is arresting Pawan Kheda ji and taking him away. What crime has he committed that he has been arrested? If this is not dictatorship then what is?
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petition of Pawan Khera, in which all the FIRs against him have been sought to be merged. The petition was mentioned by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Khera has also demanded security in light of his arrest by the Assam Police, following which all Congress leaders staged a street protest.
Assam Police IGP Prashant Kumar Bhuiyan confirmed that an Assam Police team has left for Delhi in connection with a case registered against Pawan Khera at Haflong Police Station in Dima Hasao district of Assam.
A PTI report stated that Pawan Khera was arrested in connection with his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP has accused him of making fun of the Prime Minister and his late father. PM Modi’s full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi, with the middle name Damodardas standing for his father’s name, a common practice in many parts of the country.
Earlier on Tuesday, several BJP leaders staged a sit-in outside Sonia Gandhi’s residence in Delhi demanding Khera’s removal from the Congress.
According to reports, the Assam Police contacted the Delhi Police on Wednesday night and based on their request, Khera was detained from the Delhi airport. Most likely he will be taken to Guwahati.
Senior Delhi Police officials later handed over a document to the Assam Police seeking their help in detaining Kheda. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala along with Kheda went to a police station at the airport where there was heavy deployment of CISF.
As Pawan Khera was taken out of the Delhi airport by the Assam Police, he interacted with the media and said, “We will see (in what case they are taking me). It’s a long fight and I’m ready to fight.”
In a video statement shared by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Twitter, Khera said he was told that there was confusion with his bag and police were on their way to explain the reason to him.
Sharing the video, Ramesh wrote, ‘Freedom of speech is slowly weakening in India, but freedom after speech is fast disappearing. After the ED raids, this is yet another attempt to derail the Congress plenary. Murder of Democratic India is the correct acronym.
“How arbitrary is this? Is there a rule of law? On what basis and on whose orders is this being done? He said. the flight was delayed.
Indigo Airlines later issued a statement on the matter saying, “One passenger from Raipur bound flight 6E 204 was offloaded by police at Delhi airport. Some other passengers have also decided to disembark of their own free will. We are concerned We are following the advice of the authorities. The flight is currently delayed and we apologize for any inconvenience caused to other passengers.”
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala was also with Pawan Kheda at the time of the incident. The flight was later delayed, for which the airlines apologized.
Following the incident, all passengers of the Delhi-Raipur flight were de-boarded and transferred to another flight.