Police have arrested the wife of TMC leader Jahangir Khan on Saturday on charges of masterminding a violent attempt to free him from police custody. The violent attempt was launched on the Falta police station, the officials said.
Sarina Bibi, the wife of Jahangir Khan, had been absconding since the incident, which occurred earlier this month, and was arrested from the Julpia area in the South 24 Parganas district ahead of a tip-off, the officials said.
The police said Sarina Bibi played a role in mobilizing supporters and planning the agitation, which aimed to secure the release of TMC’s Falta repoll candidate Jahangir Khan. Khan has been arrested in multiple cases after being tracked down in multiple cases.
“She was one of the principal conspirators behind the mobilization of people and the subsequent attack on the police station.
Several serious charges, including provisions of the Arms Act and Explosives Act, have been invoked against her,” a senior police officer said.
It has been alleged that she held a meeting a day before the violence, and plans were drawn up to gather supporters at a point around 3 kilometers from the police station, following which a march was conducted towards the facility in an organized manner.
As claimed by the police, the objective of the meeting was to forcibly free Khan from custody.
The protestors allegedly vandalized police vehicles and attempted to storm the police station premises, turning the situation violent. A baton charge was launched, and central forces were deployed to disperse the crowd. So far, 25 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Controversy also erupted after his arrest when Khan was paraded wearing shorts with a rope tied around his waist, sometimes holding hands and other times either holding ears or doing sit-ups. This was done a second time in a week of his arrest.
Three days after his arrest on June 11, Khan was escorted to Falta under tight security as investigators continued their probe into the case.
Arrested on June 8 near the India–Nepal border on extortion charges, Khan had allegedly been evading arrest for months while facing multiple criminal investigations.
The TMC leader gained notoriety during the West Bengal Assembly elections, when he was dubbed “Pushpa” after a video purportedly showed him threatening a police officer. He was previously apprehended by the Special Task Force (STF) and has been named in several cases, including one related to alleged EVM tampering in South 24 Parganas.
