Assam peasant leader and founder of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) Akhil Gogoi has been tested for COVID-19 after two of his associates have been found positive for Covid-19.

INDIA Updated: Jul 09, 2020 17:15 IST


Hindustan Times, Guwahati

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) advisor Akhil Gogoi was arrested in Upper Assam’s Jorhat on December 12, 2019, for his alleged role during the nationwide protests against the CAA.
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) advisor Akhil Gogoi was arrested in Upper Assam’s Jorhat on December 12, 2019, for his alleged role during the nationwide protests against the CAA.(PTI file photo)

Assam peasant leader and founder of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) Akhil Gogoi has been tested for COVID-19 after two of his associates have been found positive for Covid-19.

All three have been in jail since December last year for their role in protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

While the results of KMSS general secretary Dharjya Konwar and Bitu Sonowal, a leader of the outfit’s student wing, were found positive on Wednesday night, results of Gogoi, who is also showing symptoms for Covid-19, are awaited.

All three activists were lodged at the central jail in Guwahati where an inmate was found positive last month. The test result of another KMSS activist, Manas Konwar, who is also lodged in the same jail, is also awaited.

“I have been informed that Akhil Gogoi has tested positive for Covid-19. There’s no information yet on whether he has been taken out of jail and shifted to hospital,” Gogoi’s counsel Santanu Borthakur had told HT.

There is no official confirmation yet of Gogoi’s test results.

The peasant leader’s associates, Sonowal and Konwar, who have tested positive, have been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital.

Guwahati and rest of Kamrup Metro district, which has been under today countdown for 14 days since June 28 due to sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, has recorded nearly 5,000 patients in the past fortnight.

Gogoi was arrested at Jorhat on December 12 last year for his role in the protests against CAA, which seeks to fast forward citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He was later handed over to NIA and a court here sent him to 10 days custody of the agency on December 17. He was taken to New Delhi the same day for questioning.

Gogoi was brought back to Guwahati on December 25 and was in judicial custody ever since. Several demonstrations seeking his release following reports of his deteriorating health had taken place both in Assam and outside.

The NIA has lodged a case under sections 120B, 124A, 153A, 153B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 18 and Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPAA).

The charges pertain to criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc., assertions against national integrity, support to terrorist organization etc.

His associates were also arrested in December and all of them have been in jail ever since.