TMC leader Jahangir Khan remanded to five days police custody by court

Trinamool Congress leader Jahangir Khan, arrested on “extortion” and other charges, was remanded to police custody for five days by a court here on Tuesday.

Khan was arrested near the India-Nepal border in North Bengal’s Panitanki area on Monday. He had unsuccessfully contested the Falta assembly seat in the West Bengal assembly election, and had not been seen in the constituency in South 24 Parganas district since a couple of days before the repoll in the seat on May 21.

The Diamond Harbour sub-divisional court remanded Khan to police custody for five days in connection with seven FIRs filed against him at Falta police station on the prosecution’s request.

The Calcutta High Court had on May 26 vacated an interim protection granted to Khan, against whom seven FIRs were registered at Falta police station in South 24 Parganas district.

The high court granted protection from coercive action on May 18, only for Khan to participate in the repoll at Falta on May 21, the result of which was declared on May 24. Though Khan had prayed for and received interim protection from the high court on May 18 to participate in the repoll process and campaign for it, the very next day, he publicly announced his withdrawal from the contest.

Khan was produced before the court with a huge police and central force deployment amid apprehensions of protests by the public who had earlier vented their ire on the TMC leader’s party office in Falta.

Members of the public were not allowed to enter the courtroom where Khan was produced before the judge.

Since lawyers from the Diamond Harbour Court Bar Association did not represent Khan, the judge appointed a legal aid advocate to argue the case for the accused.