KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi talking to media in Guwahati. File image: Northeast Now

Arrested peasants’ leader Akhil Gogoi on Monday alleged that he was brutally tortured in the NIA custody.

“I was severely tortured in the custody. My hands have been tied behind the back and brought to Guwahati from Jorhat,” Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Gogoi told reporters while he was produced in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Gogoi has been booked by NIA (case no 13/2019) under Section 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 124 A (sedition), 153 A (unlawful association) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), and Section 18/39 (punishment for conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The KMSS leader was produced in the NIA court at city’s Chandmari area amid tight security.

The court sent Gogoi to 10-day NIA custody.

He was brought in a helicopter from Jorhat to Guwahati on Tuesday morning.

People gathered in front of the court were not allowed to meet the peasants’ leader and reporters were also barred from entering the court premises.

Later, however, with the permission of the court, Gogoi’s wife Gitashree Tamuly and scholar Hiren Gohain met him inside the court room.

The NIA had booked Gogoi on Saturday, two days after placing him under preventive arrest for protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.