GUWAHATI, June 26 � The Gauhati High Court today discharged BJP leader Sarbananda Sonowal from charges in connection with the Saurav Bora murder case where he was one of the prime accused.
Justice BD Agarwal Court today passed the judgment in favour of the former AASU leader, who was represented by advocate Bijon Mahajan and advocate Arshad Choudhury. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was represented by Advocate General AP Buragohain.
However, the Court dismissed the criminal petition filed by former Dibrugarh University Registrar Dibya Hash Goswami, another accused, reasoning it as �not a case where it can be said that there can be no prima facie case for trial�.
Saurav Bora, a student leader, was killed in 1986 in Dibrugarh. The case was initially investigated by the local police and was later handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department. Finally, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1988.
The CBI filed the final report in 1990, which the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Assam (Guwahati) did not accept and instead issued processes against Sonowal and Goswami and others. Subsequently, charges were framed against Sonowal, Goswami and others under Sec 302 and Sec 120(B) of the IPC in 2009. Both Sonwal and Goswami then approached the Gauhati Court where they filed separate criminal petitions.
