IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma, 41, who has been sent by the poll panel to Bengal as the election observer for South 24-Parganas and has immediately run into allegations of highhandedness, is no stranger to “extractions”.
Sharma started off as a dentist and later changed course to join the IPS. Currently posted as the additional commissioner of police of Allahabad, the 2011-batch IPS officer and “encounter specialist” is seen as one of the “rough and tough” officers enforcing chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s “vision of a crime-free Uttar Pradesh”.
Sharma, who had told reporters in 2023 that he had carried out at least nine encounters, has been seen in a widely circulated video on social media appearing to issue dire warnings to residents of Falta, a minority-dominated area in South 24-Parganas, and the family of local Trinamool candidate Jahangir Khan. In the video, the man resembling Sharma is seen referring to the Trinamool candidate by his first name and using language not usually associated with a bureaucrat in this part of the country.
Accompanied by over a dozen armed paramilitary personnel, the man resembling Sharma says: “Yahan aas paas ke jitne bhi log hain, achchi tarah se samajh len ki agar kisi ne badmashi kari to unka kayede se ilaj kiya jayega. Agar kahin se khabar aa gayi ki kisi ne koi khurafat karne ki, kisi ko pareshan karne ki koshish ki hai, toh phir uski khabar bhi achche se lenge hum.
“Yeh Jahangir ke ghar wale bhi khade hain, usko bata dena kayede se ki baar baar jo khabren aa rahi hain ki uske log dhamka rahe hain, toh phir achche se khabar lenge. Phir baad mein rona pachchtana mat.”
A translation: “All those who live here, get this straight. If anyone does anything untoward, they will be straightened up. If there is any report from anywhere that someone is trying to play mischief or disturb someone, I will teach him a lesson.
“Jahangir’s family members are also standing here. Make him understand that the reports that are coming in that his men are threatening people, I will teach him a lesson. Don’t cry or repent later.”
In another video, which appears to have been shot moments earlier, the man resembling Sharma is seen asking an officer in civil dress about Khan’s address. When the officer replies that he doesn’t know as he is not a local, the man resembling Sharma loses his temper and says: “You should be ashamed of yourself. You are taking me lightly, but the CBI will probe this matter.”
The Telegraph has not been able to verify the veracity of either video.
Sharma’s entry into the already-charged Bengal election scene has opened up another flank of confrontation between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. While the BJP projected him as Singham, the eponymous tough cop played by Ajay Devgn in a series of films, Khan and other Trinamool leaders equated their cadres with Pushpa, the character played by south superstar Allu Arjun, known for the blockbuster dialogue “Jhukega nahi (won’t bend)”.
“Ajay Pal Sharma, the encounter specialist and Singham of UP Police, is deployed as police observer of South 24 Parganas. He just read the riot act to Bhaipo’s henchman Jahangir Khan’s family members,” the BJP wrote on its official X handle. The reference was to Abhishek Banerjee, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the MP of Diamond Harbour, which falls under South 24-Parganas.
“Nobody can stop this election from being the most free and fair in 50 years and anyone who dares to act oversmart will be taught a lesson,” the BJP added.
Khan, the Falta candidate, said: “As an observer, he (Sharma) cannot visit houses and threaten people. Not only me, the police officer has been intimidating my workers as well. It will not work in Bengal, the people here cannot be browbeaten like this. If he is Singham, we are Pushpa. Jhukega nahi.”
Trinamool spokesperson Riju Dutta said: “Ajay Pal Sharma is a colourful character who has been sent here as an observer in Diamond Harbour and he is threatening the people of the area. He is misbehaving with women at night in the name of search operations. The kind of unconstitutional activities you (Sharma) are doing on the directions of your masters in the BJP, you will not be able to hide anywhere after May 4 when the results areannounced.”
Later on Tuesday, an advocate named Masrur Ahamed lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Sharma, accusing him of threatening Khan’s family members in his absence. Ahamed also filed an application against Sharma before the chief justice of Calcutta High Court, accusing the officer of being a “history sheeter”.
Late on Tuesday night, the joint BDO of Falta and two ADM, including that of South 24-Parganas, were transferred following Trinamool protests against Sharma’s alleged threats.
An EC official said the joint BDO, Sourav Hazra, had been moved out of Falta and posted to Purulia with immediate effect. The ADMs who have been shifted are Bhaskar Pal (South 24-Parganas) and Souvik Bhattacharya (Birbhum), the official said.
Sharma’s first posting was as an additional superintendent of police of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Later, he was posted in Mathura, Noida and Jaunpur in different capacities. During his posting in Noida in 2018, the police were allegedly involved in several shootouts. As the superintendent of police in Rampur in 2019, Sharma had reportedly fired three bullets at an alleged rapist andinjured him.
The Samajwadi Party often accuses Sharma of intimidating its Muslim leaders and community members in general. The majority of the cases against jailed Samajwadi general secretary Azam Khan were filed when Sharma was the superintendent of police of Rampur in 2019.
The Samajwadi Party had alleged that Sharma had got some farmers to file cases against Azam Khan, accusing him of grabbing their land to build a university in Rampur.
The Samajwadis accuse Sharma of committing murders in the name of encounters. The party accuses him of killing west Uttar Pradesh residents Mohammad Shabbir in 2019 and Mohammad Akbar in 2020 in fakeencounters.
“He is an agent of the BJP. He will be taken to task when the right time comes,” Samajwadi chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said.
A woman had filed a case in 2020 against Sharma, then the police chief of Noida, accusing him of marrying her and later getting her arrested in a fake forgery case in 2019 following a dispute.
An IPS officer in Uttar Pradesh had also brought corruption allegations against Sharma. Sharma was exonerated of all charges and promoted as DIG in 2025.