Tauqeer Sheikh issue person working in India received salary from Pak claims Himanta

    Guwahati, Mar 27 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday alleged that an SIT, inquiring into links between Pakistan's Ali Tauqeer Sheikh and his partners in India, has found that an individual working in this country received salary from Pakistan for three years.
    Amid controversy over the alleged ISI links of Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s British wife Elizabeth Colburn, the Assam Police last month lodged an FIR and formed the special investigation team (SIT) to probe Sheikh's social media comments on India’s internal affairs.
    Sheikh, an advisor of the Pakistan Planning Commission and a former colleague of Colburn, was charged under various sections of the BNS and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
    Asked about the progress of the investigation, Sarma said at a press conference here that the SIT has found in the last two months ''irrefutable documents which clearly establish that an individual received payment from Pakistan''.
    "She/he was working in India but was receiving salary from the neighbouring country for a good three years,'' he said.
    The Assam Director General of Police Harmeet Singh constituted the SIT in February to investigate the case against Sheikh.
    The chief minister said that the SIT was expected to conclude the investigations by September 30, and only after that it will be decided whether the case will be handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA) or whether the Interpol should be alerted.
    ''Following the completion of the investigations, it will be decided whether the concerned authorities should be approached for revocation of the individual's visa who had received payment from Pakistan,'' he said.

    The investigating team had gone to Delhi, Ahmedabad and even some places in Punjab and ''there are many interesting revelations which will be disclosed in the course of time,'' he said.
    The Assam Police had filed a case against Sheikh for his social media comments on India's internal affairs under various sections of the BNS and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in February.
    Sheikh's social media posts include exhaustive commentary on India's internal affairs and parliamentary matters, raising serious concerns about his intention to compromise and damage India's interests, he said.
    Gogoi had earlier claimed that the BJP went to extreme steps to defame him and his family and asserted that he would be taking appropriate legal action. He had also penned a letter in Assamese addressed to his wife and shared it on Facebook assuring her that truth shall prevail.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)