Encounter specialist's visit triggers 'Singham versus Pushpa' duel

Kolkata: A 'Singham' versus 'Pushpa' rivalry played out at Falta, around 40km from Kolkata, on Tuesday.

The stage, it seems, was set on Monday, when IPS officer and DIG Ajay Pal Sharma, an "encounter specialist" popularly known as 'Singham' on his home turf in UP, visited the house of Falta's TMC candidate Jahangir Khan, a strongman, and warned his kin "to be cautious".



On Tuesday, the two nearly crossed paths. As Jahangir's convoy passed by, TMC workers raised slogans of "Joy Bangla" and "Go Back", perhaps having spotted the UP cop. Jahangir too appeared defiant. "If he is Singham, I am Pushpa. Jhukega nahi. In 'Sholay', we saw 'Jo darr gaya, woh mar gaya'. In my dictionary, the word 'fear' does not exist," he thundered.

Meanwhile, TMC MP Mahua Moitra shared archived videos on X showing a man grooving to music at what appeared to be a nightclub. She tagged the officer, calling him a "Fair and Lovely babua". "Good to see you enjoying yourself... Hope your policing skills are better than your dancing skills," she wrote.

While a BJP worker said the post "speaks of her taste", Sharma refused to comment.

Quite a few videos of the officer doing the rounds and announcing stern warnings against mischief-mongering have been circulating on social media. Tuesday morning, he was seen in a neighbourhood near Jahangir's party office. He was back in the area again later in the day.

Jahangir said the officer was acting above the law. "He threatened my colleagues and my family. Is this the duty of a police observer? There is no EC rule that says a police observer can go and threaten people at their houses."

A local, Monalisa Patra Das, has lodged a complaint against Sharma for allegedly intimidating women.

BJP's Debjit Sarkar said EC would decide if Sharma's actions were right or wrong. Poll panel officials, though, played down the incident.

(With inputs from Kaushik Pradhan and Subrata Chattoraj in Kolkata)
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