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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma has filed a Rs 10-crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi over "false allegations" of irregularities in a food processing project.
His counsel, senior advocate Devajit Saikia, told PTI that the case was filed before the Metropolitan Civil Judge (Senior Division), Kamrup on Friday and adjourned till September 26.
"My client demanded Rs 10 crore for defamation of Gaurav Gogoi for several X-tweets. We clarified that we never asked for bail," he added.
Saikia further claimed that the grant application process was not started at all and his client's company was notified on May 26 this year, after which the food ministry sent an email. "The project was approved on 22.11.2022. In the last email, we were told that our claim would expire if we did not send our proposal. We are not responding to anything to seek support," he added.
Whatever Gogoi said on social media about Sarma and his company Pride East Entertainments, the information was not based on facts, argued the senior activist.
“He (Gogoi) did not do his homework. Approving the project does not mean receiving a grant. We will fight this case tooth and nail," he assured.

A huge controversy erupted after Guwahati-based digital media "The Crosscurrent" published a report claiming that more than 50 large agricultural lands (almost 17 hectares) in Darigai village of Kaliabori in Nagaon district were reclassified as industrial land within a month of its purchase. Pride East Entertainments, where the prime minister's husband is the chairman and managing director.
Gogoi then tweeted allegations of corruption against Sarma and his wife for several days to get government help for the project.
The Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha asked the Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goya to intervene to show the facts about the grant of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) project and the creation of agricultural infrastructure. clusters The Assam MP also noted that on March 22, 2023, Goyal answered questions in the Lok Sabha on the government's initiative to invest in Assam for industrial development and presented a list of food processing projects supported under the PMKSY component on March 31 January 2022.
"The name of M/S Pride East Entertainment Pvt Ltd is mentioned at serial number 7 of the list. The amount of subsidy duly sanctioned is 10 million rupees. The list of beneficiaries is also available on the website of the Ministry of Food Industry, he added.
The PM Kisan Sampada Yojana is a comprehensive package aimed at creating modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from the farm gate to the retail outlet. Gogoi's claims were vehemently disputed by the Prime Minister, who was engaged in a long-running duel with the Congress leader over X. His wife threatened to sue the MP for defamation