Etah (UP) Feb 13 (PTI) A Pakistani woman, who had managed to become an interim head of a village panchayat in Jalesar police station area, was arrested on Saturday, police said.

Bano Begum, a Pakistani national who had become the interim head of Gadau village panchayat, had been absconding since the registration of an FIR against her on January 1 this year at Jalesar police station, has been arrested, Etah's SSP Sunil Kumar Singh said.

The FIR against Bano Begum had been lodged on the complaints of villagers who had said despite being a Pakistani national, she had contested the village panchayat elections and after the death of the elected panchayat pradhan, she had also become the interim panchayat head.

During the investigation, it transpired that Bano Begum was a Pakistan native, who had married Akhtar Ali of Etah on June 8, 1980.

Since her marriage, she had been staying in India by repeatedly extending her long term visa, the SSP said.

Meanwhile, she also managed to contest and win the last gram panchayat elections and eventually become the interim head of the panchayat on the death of the elected pradhan, the SSP said.

The Jalesar police arrested her on Saturday from near her house on a tip-off, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)