Abhishek Banerjee crony Jahangir “Pushpa” Khan was arrested on Monday morning during a joint raid by the state Special Task Force and Darjeeling district police near the Nepal border while allegedly trying to flee the country.
Khan, defeated Trinamool candidate from Falta and an accused in several criminal cases, had been on the run for nearly three weeks.
“Jahangir Khan, wanted in several cases registered with Falta police station in Diamond Harbour, was arrested on Monday from the Panitanki Bazar area before he could cross the border to Nepal. He will be produced before a court in Calcutta on Tuesday,” an STF official said.
Sources said Khan had been trying to enrol his children in a Nepal school and planned to move his family to that country permanently.
The police had been tracking him since he fled Falta a day before a fresh election was held there on May 21 (following allegations of malpractices, intimidation and EVM tampering during the April 29 polling), a source added. Khan had informally withdrawn himself from the May 21 election.
While many Trinamool leaders have been arrested across the state by the Suvendu Adhikari government, Khan’s arrest stands out because of his long association with Abhishek, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and No. 2.
Khan’s arrest came on a day the CID issued a third summons to Abhishek, asking him to appear for questioning at Bhabani Bhawan on Tuesday in connection with a signature fraud case.
Khan is believed to have been instrumental in implementing Abhishek’s infamous “Diamond Harbour Model”, which the BJP says stood for extortion, corruption, oppression of the poor and the looting of votes.
Abhishek, the Diamond Harbour MP, had secured an 89.09 per cent vote share from the Falta Assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Khan had earned national notoriety after describing himself as “Pushpa” when the BJP portrayed IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma — an “encounter specialist” deployed by the Election Commission in Diamond Harbour during the Assembly elections — as “Singham”.
Pushpa is the protagonist of the eponymous Telugu blockbuster film franchise starring Allu Arjun as a labourer who rises to become a red sandalwood smuggler. In the Singham franchise, Ajay Devgn plays the upright police officer Bajirao Singham.
Countering the BJP’s “Singham” narrative, Khan had on April 28 said: “If he (Sharma) is Singham, we are Pushpa. Jhukega nahi (I will not bow down).”
The BJP hoped that Khan’s arrest would lead the investigators to Abhishek.
“His (Jahangir’s) boss (Abhishek) has disappeared since people threw eggs at him (in Sonarpur on May 30). However, nobody who tortured the people will be spared, even if they hide on the moon,” state BJP chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said.
Khan had also become a source of embarrassment for Mamata’s party, which believes his unilateral withdrawal from the May 21 election contributed to internal divisions.
Three party MLAs, including rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, had asked why Khan had not been expelled despite pulling out of the election. Their criticism was seen as an expression of discontent with Abhishek and his “Diamond Harbour Model”.
Soon after news of Khan’s arrest spread, his party office in Falta was vandalised, allegedly in an outburst of public anger.
Residents claimed that Abhishek’s patronage had since 2018 transformed Khan into the kingpin of corruption, extortion and smuggling in the area, powerful enough to override local police and administrative authorities.
“Jahangir can now reveal Abhishek Banerjee’s involvement in various crimes and acts of intimidation against the people of Falta,” said Abhijit Das, a state BJP leader who twice contested against Abhishek from Diamond Harbour.
“However, hundreds of other goons linked to the Diamond Harbour MP are still roaming freely in the area.”
Das claimed he had submitted a plea to DGP Siddh Nath Gupta seeking the reopening of the investigation into the death of BJP worker Debasish Acharya, who had allegedly slapped Abhishek during a rally at Chandipur, East Midnapore, in 2015.
“Acharya, who later joined the BJP, was found injured in 2021 and died subsequently. I have demanded an investigation to determine whether Bhaipo’s (Abhishek’s) instructions were behind his death,” Das said.