SP's Azam Khan gets bail from Allahabad HC but will remain in prison in another case

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan has been granted bail for two months by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High on Tuesday. However, the former UP cabinet minister will have to remain in jail in connection with one pending case. 

Azam Khan gets bail but will remain In Jail 

Azam Khan has been granted bail in connection with a case related to grabbing 'enemy property' on 1 lakh security and was ordered by the court to handover the peroperty to the Para Military forces. An FIR was registered during the partition, that alleged that a man Imamuddin Qureshi went to Pakistan and his land was recorded as enemy property, but Khan conspired and grabbed the plot.

A single-judge bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi granted bail to Khan, who is at present lodged in Sitapur prison. In total there are 88 cases registered against the SP leader, out of which his bail has been approved in 87 cases while one case is still pending.

Recently, a new case has been registered against him on the charges of submitting a forged building document in order to obtain the recognition of three schools which he is the chairman of. The SP MLA has been booked under IPC Sections-- 120B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (whoever fraudulently uses as genuine any document or electronic record). Therefore, because of this new case, he will not be able to be released from the jail. Azam Khan has been behind bars for nearly two years now after dozens of criminal cases were lodged against him. 

Azam Khan's rift with SP 

On April 10, Azam Khan's media in-charge Fasahat Ali Khan Sanu levelled serious allegations against Akhilesh Yadav and stated that he had visited the Rampur MLA in jail only once. He accused the SP Chief of “ignoring” the former party MP and maintaining silence on issues concerning the Muslim community. Lambasting Yadav for not talking about Khan in public anymore, he expressed disappointment that the former had decided to become the Leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly. 

On April 22, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party president Shivpal Yadav reached Sitapur to meet Azam Khan and stated that the Akhilesh-led party is not helping the senior member of its party. Following this, many political leaders, including Congress and BJP, visited the Sitapur jail where Khan is currently lodged. SP’s ally and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary also surprised many with his visit to Rampur to meet Azam’s wife and son.

Meanwhile, refuting all the claims, Akhilesh Yadav reiterated that he has been supporting the senior leader from day one and will continue to support him further.

Azam Khan also won the in 2022 UP Assembly election from his hometown Rampur for the tenth time, from jail. Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam won the election from a neighbouring constituency. Different criminal charges, right from land grabbing to goat stealing, were levelled against him. 

(Image: PTI)