RTI activist Akhil Gogoi sent to judicial custody for 14 days
GUWAHATI: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here remanded peasant leader and Right To Information (RTI) activist Akhil Gogoi to 14 days in judicial custody on Thursday.
The activist, who was arrested on December 12 on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, was remanded to 10 days of NIA custody on December 17.
Though NIA sought another 10 days of remand, the court decided to send Gogoi to judicial custody. He will be kept at the central jail in Guwahati. On Thursday, NIA officials, along with Assam Police, conducted raids at Gogoi’s Guwahati residence and office.
Personnel from NIA arrived at Gogoi’s residence and carried out searches. A similar operation was also conducted at the Gandhi Basti office of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), the organization he is associated with.
“The personnel took away several files, some containing details of issues he was working on, an old laptop, his handwritten diary of time spent in jail earlier and other stuff,” Gogoi’s wife Gitashree Tamuly told journalists.
The peasant leader, who was leading the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the state, was detained by local police in Jorhat on December 12.
He was later handed over to NIA and a court here sent him to 10 days in custody of the agency on December 17. He was taken to New Delhi the same day for questioning. Gogoi was brought back to Guwahati on Wednesday.
The NIA has lodged a case under sections 120B, 124A, 153A, 153B of IPC and Section 18 and Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA) Act. The charges pertain to criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc, assertions against national integrity, support to terrorist organization and so on.
Meanwhile, the statewide strike called by several organizations on December 27 demanding Gogoi’s release has been postponed until December 30.