Kolkata man who got Pune influencer Sharmishta Panoli arrested now ‘untraceable’

Wajahat Khan

Wajahat Khan, a man from Kolkata who filed a police complaint that led to the arrest of 22-year-old Pune law student and influencer Sharmishta Panoli, has allegedly gone missing and is ‘untraceable’, India Today reported.

His father, Saadat Khan, has claimed that Wajahat disappeared after receiving numerous threats and abusive calls.

Notably, FIRs have been lodged against Wajahat in Kolkata, Assam, and Delhi. In Kolkata, an FIR has been lodged at Golf Green PS. KP cyber cell is probing another plaint filed in Garden Reach PS for denigrating Hindu deities, according to a report by The Times of India.

A case has been registered in Assam against Wahajat for allegedly denigrating several Hindu deities, including Goddess Kamakhya. Assam Police have even confirmed they will send a team to West Bengal to arrest him, India Today reported.

Wajahat is believed to be the general secretary of the Rashidi Foundation, a Kolkata-based organisation. It was through this group that the complaint against Sharmishta Panoli was initially filed.

Panoli was arrested by Kolkata Police on May 30 from Gurugram and placed in judicial custody for 14 days. Her arrest followed a controversial video she posted online, where she criticised Muslim Bollywood actors for not speaking up about ‘Operation Sindoor’.

However, Wajahat himself is now being accused by the Shri Ram Swabhiman Parishad, a charitable trust. This group filed a complaint at the same police station in Garden Reach where Wajahat had earlier gone to report Panoli.

The Shri Ram Swabhiman Parishad has alleged that Wajahat posted hateful and offensive content on social media, specifically targeting Hindu beliefs, scriptures, and deities like Krishna. According to their complaint, the language used by Wajahat was not only derogatory but also sexually explicit. The trust is demanding his arrest, arguing that the law must treat everyone equally.

The Parishad has even claimed that the X (formerly Twitter) belonging to Wajahat is now locked. His Facebook account has either been deleted or is no longer visible. A police source stated that Wajahat may have begun deleting some of his old social media posts after Panoli’s arrest drew more attention to him, TOI reported.

Meanwhile, Wajahat’s father has defended his son, saying he is innocent and secular. He suggested that his son’s social media accounts may have been hacked and that he never intended to insult any religion. “My son cannot insult Hinduism,” Saadat Khan said, adding that the family has been receiving threats ever since Sharmishta Panoli’s arrest.