Trinamool Congress leader and former Falta by-election candidate Jahangir Khan, popularly known as ‘Pushpa’, was arrested near the India-Nepal border in north Bengal on Monday in connection with alleged extortion cases, police said. He is being brought to Kolkata for further legal proceedings.
“Khan was arrested from the India-Nepal border area in north Bengal,” a police officer said.
According to police sources, the Special Task Force (STF) tracked down Khan near the border after receiving intelligence inputs. While officials did not disclose further details of the operation, sources said he was allegedly attempting to flee when he was apprehended.
The arrest comes weeks after the Calcutta High Court, on May 26, vacated an interim protection granted to Khan. Police said seven FIRs had been registered against him at Falta police station in South 24 Parganas district.
Khan had withdrawn from the Falta Assembly by-election on May 19, just 48 hours before polling. Announcing his decision at a press conference, he had said, “My dream was a Golden Falta. Therefore, our chief minister (Suvendu Adhikari) is providing a special package for the development of Falta. For that reason, I have decided to withdraw myself from the by-election scheduled for May 21.”
Despite withdrawing from the contest, Khan's name remained on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) alongside the Trinamool Congress symbol. The by-election was held on May 21, and the results declared on May 24 showed the BJP winning the seat by a margin of more than 1.09 lakh votes.
The CPM secured the second position with over 40,000 votes, while Khan finished fourth after receiving 7,783 votes.