Wife of Assam CM files ₹10 Cr defamation suit against Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi
Gogoi had accused the Assam chief minister of corruption, alleging that he helped his wife get government subsidy
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a ₹10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for "false" allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
According to PTI, a case was filed against Gogoi in the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Kamrup Metropolitan on Friday and will be moved on September 26.
“My client has claimed defamation of ₹10 crore against Gaurav Gogoi for various tweets on X. We have made it very clear that we never made any application to receive subsidy,” Sarma’s lawyer and senior advocate Devajit Saikia said.
Elaborating on the matter, Saikia said Riniki’s firm had not claimed the subsidy for which the Ministry of Food Processing had sent it a show cause notice on May 26.
“The approval for the project was given on November 22, 2022. In the last email, we were told that our claim would lapse if we didn’t submit our proposal. We are not responding to anything to seek subsidy,” he told PTI.
He said Gogoi’s allegations about Sarma and her firm Pride East Entertainments was not based on facts.
“He (Gogoi) did not do his homework. Getting approval for a project does not mean that a subsidy has been received. We will fight the case tooth and nail,” he said.
Gogoi, in a series of posts on social media platform recently alleged that the Assam chief minister was helping his wife’s firm get central government subsidy.
His accusations came after digital media platform ‘The Crosscurrent’ published a report alleging that over 17 acres of agricultural land at Darigaji village in Kaliabor in Assam’s Nagaon district was reclassified as industrial land soon after it was purchased by Sarma’s wife’s firm Pride East Entertainments.
(With inputs from agencies)
