Trouble is mounting with each passing day for Samajwadi Party leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan. Days after the Rampur administration declared Khan a land mafia in its records and tightened the noose around him for alleged wrongdoings while establishing the Jauhar University, the district administration and police are now looking to open a ‘history sheet’ of the local MP, reports The Indian Express.
The report said that as many as 72 cases have been filed against Azam Khan since April this year. Rampur DM Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said that since most cases lodged against Khan are criminal in nature including allegations of land grabbing and theft, the administration has decided to open his history sheet.
“Of the 72 cases, police have filed charge sheets in 15 cases and investigation is still pending in other cases,” Singh said. Naming Khan as a history sheeter will allow the police to keep a watch on his activities.
The latest case against the Rampur MP was filed on Thursday. A former executive officer of the district Municipal Board and he have been booked for allegedly usurping land under Enemy Property Act and making it part of the Jauhar University of which Khan is chancellor.
Reacting to the latest development, Azam Khan’s MLA son Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan said that the Rampur district administration and local police are trying to frame his father in false cases and targeting people close to the family. He confirmed that more than 65 cases have been lodged against his father since April.
“The cases have been lodged on false allegations, and we have moved the court seeking quashing of the FIRs,” he said.
Meanwhile, police are conducting searches to trace Khan’s close aide and retired deputy Aalay Hasan Khan. He is a co-accused in nearly 30 cases along with Azam Khan.
Last week, the Samajwadi Party workers staged a statewide protest against alleged victimisation of Azam Khan and his son. However, Samajwadi Party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav was missing from the scene.
Notably, Khan has not visited Rampur in the past one month. In the previous Uttar Pradesh government, when he was a minister, he visited Rampur every weekend. It is believed that Khan is staying away from Rampur fearing arrest by the police in several cases of land grabbing, corruption and others.
SP Rampur Ajay Pal Sharma said that Azam Khan’s arrest was possible in the sections under which the cases have been filed. However, Sharma said that he will be arrested only when investigations confirm his involvement in the cases.
DM Singh said that there was no restriction on Khan from visiting Rampur, but he has not come to Rampur ever since the cases were filed against him.