Wazahat Khan, the man who filed FIR against influencer Sharmistha Panoli, arrested in Kolkata

Wazahat Khan, whose complaint led to influencer Sharmistha Panoli’s arrest on May 30, was himself arrested on the night of June 9 from Kolkata’s Amherst Street area. BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul had also registered a case against Mr Khan last week. 

Multiple FIRs were filed against Mr Khan, including one in Assam, for “allegedly spreading hatred on social media and hurting religious sentiments,” according to Kolkata Police officials. 

The 29-year-old Wazahat Khan has been booked under Bhartiya Nyay Sanghita’s Sections 196(1)(a)/299/352/353(1)(c). He was absconding for the past 10 days. He is set to produced in a city court on Tuesday (June 10). 

Police had conducted multiple raids at Digha and Howrah based on leads. But Mr Khan was finally arrested from the Amherst Street area in relation to a case registered with the Golf Green Police Station.  

When Wazahat was absconding, his father shared concerns that his son was under threat. “He was getting multiple calls throughout the day. He left home and his phone is switched off. We have not been able to find him since then, we are really worried,” Sahadat Khan, Mr Wazahat’s father said. 

Reacting to Mr Khan’s arrest, BJP State president and MP, Sukanta Majumdar said that the Mamata Banerjee government “orchestrated his arrest through her subservient Kolkata Police to ensure his safe and protected custody under the State’s wing.” 

A team of Assam Police was also present in West Bengal looking for Mr Khan based on the case registered against him in Assam. There were social media rumours that the Kolkata Police was not cooperating with their Assam counterparts. 

“Kolkata Police strongly refutes the misleading claim being circulated on social media suggesting non-cooperation with Assam Police,” the Kolkata Police officials said in a statement. 

“Wazahat Khan’s arrest, immediately following the departure of Assam Police from Kolkata, is nothing but a textbook example of Mamata Banerjee’s age-old politics of appeasement,” Mr Majumdar wrote on social media handle X. He further accused that this was a blatant abuse of State machinery by the CM to protect notorious criminals. 

On Friday (June 6, 2025) afternoon, Ms Panoli was set free from Kolkata’s Alipore jail. She was granted bail in the hate speech case by the Calcutta High Court on Thursday (June 5, 2025) for a bond of ₹10,000. 

The court also asked the police to offer her protection because her counsel stated that the young woman was receiving rape and death threats after her arrest.  

This came after Ms Panoli posted a video on social media and made communal comments and made claims about Operation Sindoor which the Kolkata Police noted as ‘hate speech’ and asked people not to confuse that with ‘freedom of speech’. She did this as a reaction to the Pahalgam attack which left at least 26 people dead in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Published - June 10, 2025 10:59 am IST