CM Suvendu orders 'sedition' case against Jahangir's wife, Falta rioters

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari issued a fierce ultimatum on Wednesday, directing law enforcement authorities to slap stringent sedition charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against those who attacked police and central paramilitary forces in Falta. The directive follows a chaotic escalation on Tuesday, when a violent mob led by the wife of arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and local strongman Jahangir Khan—popularly known as "Pushpa"—attempted to gherao and storm the local police station to demand his immediate release. Warning that the days of lawlessness are over, the Chief Minister declared that the rule of law has been firmly re-established in Falta and that no forms of hooliganism, goondaism, or militant agitation will be tolerated under his administration.

The political temperature skyrocketed after the local police marched Jahangir Khan through the streets tied with a waist rope, a public humiliation that provoked furious roadblocks and mass demonstrations by his loyalists across various neighborhoods. The situation rapidly deteriorated, forcing central paramilitary forces to launch a coordinated lathi-charge to disperse the rioters. A video that has since gone viral on social media platforms shows panicked agitators fleeing frantically from the combined might of the police and central forces, with several individuals seen diving into local ponds and swimming across to escape detention. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) actively shared the footage online, describing it as the inevitable fate of state-sponsored mafias under the new regime.

Addressing a massive crowd at a local Jan Kalyan Shibir (public welfare camp) in Falta on Wednesday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari made a blistering reference to the previous day's violence without directly naming Jahangir Khan. He stated that he watched television footage of a local mafia's wife leading an aggressive mob to assault state police officers and central forces who were simply performing their statutory duties. Adhikari publicly instructed the regional Superintendent of Police (SP) to utilize the viral video clips to systematically identify every single rioter involved, ensuring that none of them remain free in their homes. He explicitly ordered that the state government would not stop at arrests, but would actively move to confiscate and publicly auction the personal properties of the attackers.