Guwahati: The Assam police arrested former MLA Naren Sonowal from the state’s Naharkatia constituency Naren Sonowal, on charges of allegedly being involved in illegal gambling activities late Thursday night.
The former Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA, the richest candidate in the 2016 polls, was arrested by a team of police from the Boiragimoth area of Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh town.
The Dibrugarh police also arrested six more accused along with Sonowal, for being allegedly involved in the crime.
The other six accused have been identified as Mukul Ghosh, Mehroz Ahmed, Dipendra Dutta, Ritwik Baruah, Abdul Rashid and Dipak Ranjan.
Speaking to ABP Live, Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police Shwetank Mishra said, “We have arrested the accused under section 16 of the Assam Game and Betting Act, 1970.”
Briefing the media persons, officer in charge of Dibrugarh police station Raju Bahadur Chetry said, “Based on specific input, we conducted a raid in a house at the Boiragimoth area late Thursday night and managed to arrest a total of seven persons who were found to be involved in illegal gambling activities.”
“During the raid, we recovered a large number of materials used in gambling activities. We have also recovered Rs 96,500 cash. Moreover, we have seized a car, and two motorcycles, belonging to the accused. We have registered a case 150/2023 in the Dibrugarh police station against the accused, Chetry added.”
The officer in charge appealed to the people to inform the police immediately if they are aware of such illegal or immoral activities going on in their vicinity.
All the accused will likely be produced before a local court later on Friday.
Naren Sonowal, a member of the AGP, a partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government, was elected to the Assam Assembly from the Naharkatia constituency in 2016.
According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), Sonowal was one of the richest candidates contesting the 2021 Assam Assembly elections with declared assets amounting to Rs 33 crore.
While contesting the 2016 Assam Assembly elections, Sonowal also declared assets worth Rs 33 crore.
His known source of income is from salary and business while his wife’s known source of income is only from the business.