NIA Reopens Anti-CAA Case Against Akhil Gogoi

GUWAHATI: Following a decision from the Gauhati High Court, the Special NIA Court revived a case against Assam Legislator Akhil Gogoi and his three companions in relation to anti-CAA protests on Thursday.

Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das postponed the hearing and scheduled the case for February 28 in light of the Supreme Court's decision.

Hundreds of Gogoi's followers gathered outside the courthouse to show their support for the leader of the Raijor Dal.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was able to file charges against Gogoi and three other people in the case on February 9 after the permission from the Gauhati High Court.

Dhaijya Konwar, Bittu Sonowal, and Manash Konwar were the other three defendants; all three had been granted bail in the NIA case and were no longer in detention.

Gogoi was the only person whose bail was denied by the court, and after serving 567 days in prison, he was freed after being exonerated along with the other three people by Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das.

The NIA was looking into two incidents of anti-CAA violence involving Gogoi.

In one of them, the Special NIA Court had granted him bail, and the Gauhati High Court had upheld it in April 2021 after the investigation agency had contested it.

The RTI activist and peasant leader was denied bail in the second case involving anti-CAA violence that the NIA was looking into, so he remained in judicial prison.

Gogoi and his three friends were freed by the Special NIA Court on July 1, 2021, for their alleged involvement in the violent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act uprising in the state in December 2019.

Gogoi, who ran as an independent from Sibsagar in 2021, made history by becoming the first Assamese to win an election while incarcerated and without engaging in any active campaigning.

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