TMC strongman Jahangir Khan arrested near Nepal border, his Falta office vandalised

“Khan had plans to settle down in Nepal, which is why he got his children admitted to a school in Nepal. During the raid at the hotel, we seized a significant cache of documents in his possession,” said a police officer.

“Khan went into hiding immediately after the Calcutta High Court vacated his interim protection from coercive action in connection with several FIRs against him. When the police raided his house after the repoll on May 21, they found that he had absconded. To evade tracking, Khan had switched off his mobile phones and deleted his WhatsApp account,” said a police officer involved in the operations.

However, investigators said that Khan kept in touch with his family members and close associates. “By tracking those numbers and analysing his frequent travel routes, the STF zeroed in on key locations and deployed police teams in plainclothes. Khan was eventually spotted and detained by one of these undercover units. Legal procedures are currently underway to bring Khan back to Kolkata,” the STF officer said.

Following his defeat in the Assembly elections, seven FIRs were registered against Khan at the Falta police station in South 24 Parganas district. “There are multiple allegations against Khan and his associates, including extortion, murder, criminal intimidation, and atrocities committed against the community,” an officer said.
Following his arrest, Khan’s office in Falta was reportedly vandalised.

Police will initiate an investigation into the incident, an officer said, adding several packets of relief supplies were found inside the office, triggering anger among the locals, who accused Khan and his associates of withholding materials intended for distribution among the people.

On May 26, the Calcutta High Court vacated the interim protection on his arrest, noting, “It would be highly unjust if undue protection is given to the writ petitioner (Khan) only on account of the change of the political scenario in West Bengal.”

Khan had gained notoriety for allegedly using coercion to ensure his writ runs large in the Falta Assembly segment that gave TMC second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee a lead of over 1 lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

During the Assembly polls campaign, he had hit the headlines when he had challenged Uttar Pradesh police officer Ajay Pal Sharma, who arrived at his home looking for him. “We will not bow to him. This is Bengal; if he is ‘Singham’, I am ‘Pushpa’. No amount of threat or coercion by the BJP-appointed police officials from Uttar Pradesh will be allowed in Falta,” Khan had said.

However, a month later, as Falta was set to go for a repoll on May 21 — the Election Commission (EC) ordered repolling following widespread irregularities in polling on April 28 — and the political landscape undergoing a complete change with BJP in power, he announced that he was “withdrawing” his candidature as new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had promised a “special package” for the constituency.

In the repoll, Khan came fourth by securing only 7,783 votes with the BJP winning the seat by a landslide margin of more than 1.09 lakh votes, while the CPI(M) finished second with over 40,000 votes.