Congress MLA Rumi Nath Congress MLA Rumi Nath

The police on Tuesday arrested controversy-prone Congress legislator Rumi Nath for her alleged links with international car-lifting racket kingpin Anil Chauhan, including on charges of allegedly recommending car-pass for Chauhan to enter the premises of the Assam Legislative Assembly and MLA Hostel campus.

Confirming this, Guwahati Police Commissioner Jyotirmoy Chakravarty said Nath was arrested from her quarter in the Assembly Hostel campus, following which she was taken to the Dispur police station. She was arrested in connection with two cases registered in two different police stations – Dispur and Azara – in which car-theft kingpin Anil Chauhan was already arrested last week.

The police meanwhile have frozen as many as 17 bank accounts belonging to Anil Chauhan, with joint commissioner Nawab Haque indicating that more people are likely to be arrested. Rumi Nath’s second husband (since divorced) Jackie Zakir was also arrested in connection with this case last week.

Police have so far invoked Section 120(B) – criminal conspiracy, Section 212 – harbouring offenders, Section 420 – cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and Section 468 – forgery for the purpose of cheating – in connection with the two cases registered so far.

Congress MLA from the Barkhola constituency in Cachar district of southern Assam, Rumi Nath was reportedly evading arrest during which she applied for an anticipatory bail which was turned down by the Gauhati High Court on Friday. The police today tracked her down in her ML Hostel quarter and arrested her after obtaining permission from Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi.

While Anil Chauhan, the car-lifting kingpin was arrested in the outskirts of Guwahati city on April 3, Congress legislator Rumi Nath got entangled in the case after police discovered at least one vehicle owned by Chauhan which had a car-pass sticker for entry into the Assembly campus, which was issued on her recommendation.

Though she denied knowing Chauhan Nath however has already admitted that she knew Chauhan’s wife Rita for a long time and that she (Nath) had recommended car-pass only for her. The police as well as the State Assembly Secretariat are separately probing into the aspect.

Prone to controversies one after the other, legislator Rumi Nath first hit headlines by casting vote for the Congress in the 2010 Rajya Sabha election even when she was then a BJP legislator. A year later she won from Bakhola again as Congress candidate and was back in the news for dumping her first husband and marrying a government employee called Jackie Zakir. A few months back she separated from Zakir too.

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