Facing 64 new cases, Azam Khan applies for anticipatory bail

Azam Khan, the senior Samajwadi Party leader and Member of Parliament from Rampur, has moved for anticipatory bail fearing his arrest after a battery of 64 cases have been filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police over the last three months, with 28 cases being lodged just in the last one month.

Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, the District Magistrate of Rampur, told ET that all 64 cases were serious and many more people were expected to “gather courage and come forward to complain” against the MP now. “27 farmers have lodged cases saying their land was forcibly grabbed by Khan. Plus, there are 13 cases of election violations, threats to officials and communal speeches by him during elections. Chargesheets have been filed by the police in all those 13 cases. Enemy Property has also been grabbed by him,” the DM said. Sources said Khan’s arrest for his custodial interrogation was imminent, especially as the Enforcement Directorate has also lodged a case against him and he has also been enlisted as an organised land grabber (Bhu-Mafia) by the state government on July 12. “I am paying the price for winning the Rampur seat and beating the BJP. A political vendetta has been launched against me by the Yogi government,” Khan told ET. The Samajwadi Party has threatened a state-wide agitation if the UP government moves to arrest Khan.

Khan has accused the DM and the SSP of Rampur, Ajay Pal Sharma, of forwarding the BJP agenda against him since being posted here this February and June respectively. The DM claimed people close to the MP have tried to implicate him by searching land records of districts where he was earlier posted, but in vain. He instead pointed to a major matter under probe of the questionable handover of the ‘Madrasa Alia’ in Rampur, a 100-year-old institution, to Khan’s Jauhar trust in 2016.