During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Azam Khan was booked for making inflammatory speeches
Rampur (Uttar Pradesh):
As raids at the income tax department continued for the third day in a row, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said on Friday that nothing that could be seized was found in the raids.
After the raids, Azam Khan told news agency ANI: “On September 13, the IT team came to our house, they searched the house for three days. They searched all the almirahs, drawers and all the files, whatever could be searched. done it all. In this sudden raid, they only found what I have earned in my political life of 45-50 years, nothing has been found that can be confiscated.”
“The university (Mohammad Ali Jauhar University) is made for weaker sections of the society. The same thing happened with Madan Mohan Malviya, which is echoed with me. The power to persevere is still there. We will keep trying for the future of the coming generations,” Azam Khan added.
The secretary and deputy general manager of District Cooperative Bank, Rampur, have been suspended for irregularities in providing interest to Azam Khan’s Jauhar Trust and Rampur Public School.
BJP MLA Akash Saxena had complained to the chief minister about the irregularities following which an inquiry committee was formed. The committee’s investigation revealed that the interest was paid by the officials of the Cooperative Bank against the rules.
An action was taken by the officials under which Rampur District Cooperative Bank secretary Upendra Kumar Saraswat and deputy general manager Shakeel Ahmed were suspended.
Meanwhile, the department on Wednesday conducted searches at more than 30 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as part of the tax evasion probe against Khan and people associated with him.
Searches were also conducted at Mr Khan’s residence in Rampur on Thursday.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Azam Khan was booked for making inflammatory speeches while addressing a public meeting at Khatanagaria village in Milak Kotwali region.
The Allahabad High Court granted interim bail to Azam Khan in May 2022 in a case related to unlawful possession of land belonging to the Waqf Board. Azam Khan started his political career by winning the 1980 parliamentary elections on the Janata Party (Secular) ticket from Rampur. He has served as a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav governments.
As many as 81 cases have since been registered against the stalwart SP in Rampur on various charges including land grabbing, cheating, criminal trespass and hate speech.
Mr Khan’s wife and former MP Tanzeen Fatima and their son and former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan have also been booked in at least 40 cases. All three are currently out on bail.
Azam was arrested along with Tanzeen Fatima and Abdullah Azam Khan in February 2020 in a case of alleged forgery of the latter’s birth certificate. Azam Khan was released from prison in May 2022. Tanzeen Fatima was released from prison in December 2020 and Abdullah Khan in January 2022.
