Former Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councillor Shams Iqbal, alias Anil, has been arrested by the Garden Reach Police in connection with an alleged Rs 70 lakh extortion case, police said.
According to a senior Kolkata Police officer, a case was registered on 28 June following a complaint by a local businessman, who claimed that Iqbal, along with Md Faraz, Feroz Quereshi and their associates, had extorted Rs 70 lakh from him since June 2023 by threatening him and his family with death in exchange for allowing him to run his business peacefully in the locality.
The complainant further alleged that after receiving the money, the accused continued to demand additional extortion payments and threatened him with a revolver, warning him of dire consequences if he failed to comply.
In a statement, Kolkata Police said the accused persons, “in furtherance of their common intention”, allegedly extorted Rs 70 lakh from the complainant by putting him and his family in fear of death.
Police said the accused later demanded further extortion money while allegedly brandishing a revolver. The case has been registered under the Garden Reach Police Station Case Number-134 dated 28.06.2026 under sections 308(5), 351(2), and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with sections 25, 27 of the Arms Act.
Further investigation is underway.
Iqbal, the former councillor of Ward No. 134 (Metiabruz) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, is considered to be a close aide of former Kolkata Mayor and urban development and municipal affiars minister Firhad Hakim.
His arrest also follows a police complaint lodged against him, Hakim and others in connection with the Taratala warehouse collapse that claimed 16 lives.
The complaint was filed by the Bharatiya Janata Mazdoor Cell (BJMC), affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging that repeated collapses of illegal buildings and warehouses in the Kolkata Port area had led to multiple deaths and that such structures had been allowed to remain despite posing serious risks to public safety. These allegations are separate from the present extortion case and remain under investigation.
Iqbal is not new to controversies. The former councillor of Ward No. 134 had earlier grabbed headlines after the collapse of a five-storey building in Garden Reach two years ago, in which nine people were killed and at least 17 others were injured.
Moreover, Iqbal’s flamboyant lifestyle has frequently attracted public attention. He has once visited the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters driving a red Aston Martin.
Following the Garden Reach building collapse, the then Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, demanded Iqbal’s arrest.
“Shams Iqbal in the last Corporation Election in 2021 managed to win the Ward No. 134 (Garden Reach area) by securing 98.2 per cent votes—the highest among all the KMC councillors. He once made headlines by driving a swanky red colour Aston Martin Car to the KMC head office. His flashy lifestyle is built on the lives of the people who are stuck under the debris right now. Recently he purchased a Bentley car, the price of which is believed to be in upwards of Rs 5 crores. One can wonder how a mere Councillor manages to earn so much!” Adhikari had then posted on X.
Following the warehouse collapse in Taratala that left 16 dead and several injured West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said that “strict action will be taken” and ordered a safety audit of all under-construction buildings under several urban local bodies whose plans had been passed in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime till July 31.