'Damaging public property': Assam Police send summons to Rahul, other Cong leaders
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Guwahati: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Assam Police has issued summons to at least 11 Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi for causing damage to public property during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state. The Congress leaders have been asked to appear before the CID officers on February 23 in Guwahati.
An official said that the summons was issued on Monday under section 41 A (3) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Other leaders to receive the summons are Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, Jitendra Singh Alwar, Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, National Students Union of India (NSUI) in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar, Assam unit Congress president Bhupen Kumar Bora, Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Debabrata Saikia and others were also given the summons.
In an order, the CID wrote: "In exercise of the powers conferred under sub-section (1) of Section 41A of CrPC, during the investigation, it was revealed that there are reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain facts and circumstances for you, in relation to the present investigation."
The Bharat Jodo Nyay yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by his party colleagues was launched on January 14 at Thoubal in Manipur and is scheduled end on March 20 in Mumbai. In between Rahul has taken breaks the most recent one to visit his constituency of Wayanad in Kerala, to visit the bereaved of people killed by a wild elephant.
Meanwhile, Debabrata Saikia told IANS that they will follow all procedures according to the law and will appear before the investigating officers.
However, he also asserted that none of the Congress leaders were involved in vandalism of any public property.
On January 23, Assam police registered cases against Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for provoking the crowd to carry out vandalism.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also announced that the police will arrest the accused Congress party leaders after the general election this year.
(Based on IANS input)