In the thick of a major controversy for his alleged connection with the prime accused of multi-crore rupees scam of North Cachar Hills, the Assam health minister, Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Friday threatened self-immolation if charges of taking a gift of luxury car from R.H. Khan is proved.
Denying to have been gifted a luxury car by R.H. Khan, the prime accused in the NC Hills financial scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mr Sarma told reporters, “I am going to file a defamation case against Akhil Gogoi, secretary of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) who alleged my nexus with R.H. Khan.”
Mr Sarma, who on many such occasions declared to quit politics but subsequently backed out, said, “I will commit self-immolation publicly if the allegation is proved true.”
Mr Sarma said that in a democracy, everyone has the right to bring allegations, but those allegations must come with minimum evidence.
Mr Sarma, who is in the eye of storm for his alleged role in the NC Hills scam since a weekly magazine published the story about involvement of seven ministers in to it, also launched an attack on former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta threatening to re-open the letter of credit scam.
Mr Sarma, who is also spokesperson of the state government, claimed that the then Assam governor Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha (Retd) had not refused to give prosecution sanction to the CBI against former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the letter of credit (LoC) case, but kept the matter withheld.
Referring a PIL challenging the decision of then governor, Mr Sarma himself a lawyer also claimed that the Guwahati high court had rejected the PIL but it was not based on merit.
The remark of the minister has provoked the opposition to move a petition pointing out contempt of the court order.
“We are consulting the legal experts to study the matter a fresh to file contempt of court case against the minister for misrepresenting the court order which has already been published in the gadget of the Guwahati high court,” the AGP lawyers pointed out.