Akhilesh backs Azam, kin; alleges political vendetta
Throwing his weight behind senior leader and party MP from Rampur Azam Khan, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met him, his legislator wife Tazeen Fatma and former MLA son Abdullah Azam at Sitapur District Jail on Thursday. Nine SP leaders, along with Akhilesh, went to the jail to meet the Khan clan.
After the meeting, Akhilesh told reporters outside the jail that a political conspiracy was hatched to implicate the SP leader.
“We are sure that Khan and his family would get justice from the court. The entire thing is all about political vendetta and cases have been lodged over rivalry. Such type of political vendetta is not justified,” he said.
When asked if Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was responsible for the Khans being in jail, the SP chief said, “There are several people behind the entire conspiracy.”
Akhilesdh also criticised Yogi Adityanath for his language against opposition members in the Assembly. “A CM should use respectful language in public,” he said.
Earlier, the SP chief was scheduled to reach Rampur and even booked a private aircraft for going to Bareilly and then head to Rampur by car to meet the incarcerated Khan, but on being informed that Khan had been transferred to Sitapur jail early Thursday morning, he cancelled his visit and instead went to Sitapur to meet the SP leader.
Upon reaching Sitapur District Jail from Rampur early Thursday morning, Khan told reporters that everyone in the country knew what was happening. “There is nothing secret about how we have been implicated in the case,” he said.
Khan, along with his wife and son, had surrendered before a Rampur court on Wednesday and were sent to judicial custody till March 2. But after Rampur police expressed apprehension over deterioration of law and order situation due to the SP leaders being jailed, they were shifted to Sitapur District Jail.
Jail Superintendent DC Mishra told reporters that the SP MP and his son Abdullah had been provided special security while Tazeen Fatma would be kept in women’s barrack. The case in which the Khans have been sent to jail pertains to two birth certificates of Abdullah Azam, who allegedly gave wrong date of birth while filing his nomination papers for Assembly elections in 2017. His election was set aside by the Allahabad High Court last December. He later approached the Supreme Court, which is still hearing the case.
A BJP leader from Rampur, Akash Saxena had lodged an FIR alleging fraud related to Abdullah Azam’s two birth certificates. In April, the police filed filed a charge sheet in court maintaining that Abdullah Azam also had two passports and two PAN cards.
In one birth certificate, issued by Rampur Municipality, Abdullah’s birth date was mentioned as January 1, 1993 while another certificate said that he was born in Lucknow on September 30, 1990.
A case was also registered against Azam Khan and his wife as they had submitted an affidavit buttressing their son’s second birth certificate.
Khan represents Rampur in Lok Sabha and his wife is an MLA from Rampur Assembly seat. Their son Abdullah won from Suar Assembly segment in 2017 but his election was setaside by Allahabad High Court.
