Jammu and Kashmir Police have registered a case of cheating and criminal intimidation against Aijaz Ahmad Shah, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha leader from Pulwama district, officials confirmed on Wednesday, 19 August. The case was filed at the Tral police station under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property or money) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

What the Complaint Alleges

According to officials, the complainant alleged that Shah accepted money from him under the pretext of securing police assistance in a personal matter — a promise that was reportedly never fulfilled. Since the alleged offence occurred in 2022, the case has been registered under the IPC rather than the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), which replaced it in July 2024.

A Pattern of Prior Cases

Shah, who was appointed vice president of the Pulwama Kisan Morcha last November, now faces a total of eight similar cases registered across at least four police stations in the district since 2016. The latest FIR is the third case registered against him in 2025 alone. BJP leader Altaf Thakur, who also belongs to the Tral area, declined to comment on the development.

BJP Under Scrutiny in Pulwama

The case against Shah follows closely on the registration of an FIR against BJP's Pulwama district president Showkat Gayoor on 11 August for alleged extortion and threats. The party has since suspended Gayoor from all positions, with disciplinary proceedings pending against him. The back-to-back cases have placed the BJP's district-level organisation in Pulwama under renewed scrutiny.

A Wider Pattern of Political Misuse

Authorities note that such cases are not new to the region. In the past, police have booked several political leaders and activists — across party lines — for cheating citizens by promising government jobs or police assistance. According to officials, in nearly all such instances, the accused allegedly misused the name and influence of their respective political parties to lend credibility to false promises.

Notably, during the peak years of militancy in the region, dishonest activists from various parties were accused of extorting money from families of youths detained for questioning in terror-related cases — a pattern that investigators say has persisted in diluted form. With two senior BJP figures in Pulwama now facing criminal cases within days of each other, questions are likely to mount over the party's vetting processes at the district level.