Akhil Gogoi has not tested positive for COVID-19: Officials

Guwahati: Officials have denied the reports of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) supremo Akhil Gogoi testing COVID-19 positive after the news was being circulated in many sections of media.

Talking to The Sentinel Digital, a jail official said, "Akhil Gogoi and Manas Konwar tested negative after we conducted rapid antigen tests on some prison inmates. Since he is COVID-19 negative, there is no point in shifting him to the GMCH or any other hospital. However, Gogoi's aides -- Dhaijya Konwar and Bitu Sonowal -- tested positive last night and were shifted out at around 1:30 am today."

As per a report in The New Indian Express, Santanu Barthakur, Gogoi's legal counsel, had told the publication that the KMSS head had tested positive. "He has tested positive. I just received the news that he has tested positive for COVID-19", he is quoted as saying.

After several news reports stated that Gogoi -- a prominent figure in the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which rocked Assam at the turn of the year -- has tested positive for the dreaded disease, officials countered by saying it has not been confirmed yet. According to reports, Inspector General of Police (jail) Dasarath Das has also refuted claims that Akhil Gogoi tested positive for the dreaded virus in the jail, and termed the news reports as "fake."

This comes amid mounting pressure on the Sarbananda Sonowal-led Bjp regime to release Gogoi in view of his deteriorating health. Earlier this year, Gogoi complained of severe back pain and his condition deteriorated to such an extent that he could not even meet visitors -- including his wife. Diagnosis revealed that the activist is afflicted with kidney stones and stomach ulcers.

When the COVID-19 landed on Assam's shores, the clamor for his release grew louder, with the Assam state Government coming under increasing attack from Gogoi's supporters, who claim that he has been jailed on "phony charges" and demanded his release, even as the Supreme directed state Governments in a bid to "decongest jails" before the pandemic came swooping.

After reports that Gogoi was exhibiting signs of the COVID-19 started surfacing on various sections of the media, Geetashree Tamuly, Akhil's wife, told a news portal that she is in 'total darkness' and that she has not been given any information Akhil's health.

After the news of Akhil's sickness reached Akhil's ailing mother Priyada, who also took part in the anti-CAA agitation, she recorded a video in which she says that if her son is to die in jail, Sarbananda Sonowal will be held responsible.

Gogoi's KMSS brethren who tested positive were shifted to the GMCH in the morning today, as they could not be admitted earlier due to a lack of beds. Kamal Kumar Medhi, deputy of Akhil Gogoi and second in command in the KMSS, has slammed the Government for its "complacency" in giving treatment to the COVID-19 positive leaders of the organization and complained that they were being accorded "inhumane" treatment by the health personnel who picked them up.

On 12 December 2019, Gogoi was taken into custody in relation to the Citizenship Amendment Act protests and subsequently booked under the amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Although the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to file a charge sheet within the mandatory 90 days, he has been again booked on other charges.

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