Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS) leader, Bitu Sonowal, was granted bail by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on July 15.
Sonowal, a leader of the students’ wing of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), was granted bail after another leader Manash Konwar of SMSS was granted bail on July 13.
Sonowal, who has been infected with COVID-19, is now under treatment at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and will be released after completion of formalities by the jail authority once he is cured of the disease.
“We filed the bail petitions separately. After Manash Konwar, Bitu Sonowal was granted bail today. Total five cases were filed by Assam police against Sonowal apart from the NIA case and all were granted bail earlier. Sonowal will come home once he recovers from COVID-19. The hearing for Akhil Gogoi’s bail plea is scheduled for July 16,” KMSS joint general secretary Mukut Deka said.
Sonowal was named in the same case (No. 13/2019) in which activist Akhil Gogoi and other KMSS leaders, Dhirjya Konwar and Konwar, were arrested for allegedly having nexus with Maoist groups.
Sonowal was arrested in December, 2019 and has been lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail. They were arrested under The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the state turned violent in December, 2019.
