Overview
- Kolkata police arrested former KMC councillor Shams Iqbal on extortion and arms-related charges after a complaint alleging he and associates took ₹70 lakh from a Metiabruz businessman, a case reported on Monday.
- The Garden Reach FIR names criminal intimidation and extortion under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act and records allegations that the accused brandished revolvers and threatened the complainant and his family.
- Hours after being produced in the Alipore court the complainant filed an affidavit withdrawing the case and saying the matter was settled, and Iqbal was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 1,000.
- The arrest was reported alongside a separate complaint linking Iqbal and others to the Taratala warehouse collapse and follows repeated media references to his close association with former mayor Firhad Hakim and a history of local controversies.
- Police and outlets frame the episode as part of a larger wave of actions against former Trinamool councillors since the change in state government, a trend that has encouraged more complainants to come forward but could be complicated by out-of-court settlements that halt prosecutions.