Just two months after he was released from jail following his 23-month stay behind bars, veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam Khan have been sentenced to seven years in jail in a PAN card case Rampur. The two were convicted on Monday by a special MP/MLA court here in a 2019 case related to obtaining two PAN cards using different dates of birth, a prosecution officer said.
Special Magistrate (MP/MLA Court) Shobhit Bansal held both father and son guilty, following the examination of documentary evidence and witness testimonies. Talking to the media, prosecution Officer Rakesh Kumar Maurya said they would review the judgment and may consider filing an appeal if it feels the punishment is inadequate, reported PTI.
Meanwhile, reacting to the order, Azam Khan said, “They thought I was a convict, so I was sentenced to jail…”
Will Azam Khan, Abdullah be taken into custody?
On the question of the father, son being taken into custody, Maurya responded, “Yes, absolutely”. The case registered six years back in 2019 at Rampur’s Civil Lines police station by BJP leader Akash Saxena under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), the news agency said.
The prosecution said Azam Khan’s son obtained a PAN card from the Income Tax Department mentioning January 1, 1993 as his date of birth, which matched the date in his school and High School certificates. However, the same date was also used in the records of his State Bank of India account operated by him.
The court held that Abdullah had procured the forged PAN card “in conspiracy with his father” and submitted it in official records.
