Azam Khan sentenced to 7-year jail term in Rampur house vandalism case
“Besides sentencing him to seven years imprisonment, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 8 lakh on Azam Khan. A fine of Rs 3.5 lakh has been imposed on the other three convicts,” district government counsel Amit Saxena said.
Azam Khan’s lawyer Nasin Sultan said they would file an appeal against the conviction. (Express file photo) Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former minister Azam Khan was on Monday sentenced to seven years imprisonment in connection with a case of trespass and vandalism of a house in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur in 2016. This is the fifth case in which Khan, who is already in jail, has been convicted over the past one year.
Along with Azam Khan, three others – retired deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Aaley Hasan, contractor Barkat Ali, and one Azhar Ali – were found guilty by the MP-MLA court in Rampur on Friday. The court handed them five-year sentences. Another three accused in the case – Zibran, Farman and Omendra Chauhan – were acquitted by the court.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred in 2016, but the case was filed three years later. In his complaint filed in 2019, Ahtesham Khan told police that he had bought a parcel of land in Rampur district’s Dongarpur in 2011-12 to set up a school. In a portion of the land, he had built a house where he started living with his family. On the evening of February 3, 2016, Azhar Khan, Aaley Hasan and Barkat Ali, along with 20-25 policemen, forcibly entered his house, dragged his family out, vandalised household items, and ran a bulldozer over the property, he said in the complaint.
Ahtesham alleged that the accused also took away Rs 25,000 in cash and a cellphone from the house. He also said that the accused had told him that this was being done to his family for not voting for Azam Khan. He then went to Azam Khan to complain about the incident, at which time the politician, along with others, abused and threatened him with imprisonment, the complaint alleged.
Azam Khan and the three others to be convicted have been held guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
“Besides sentencing him to seven years imprisonment, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 8 lakh on Azam Khan. A fine of Rs 3.5 lakh has been imposed on the other three convicts,” district government counsel Amit Saxena said.
Azam’s lawyer Nasin Sultan said they would file an appeal against the conviction.
Since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, a total of 81 cases have been registered against Azam Khan, who was the former MP of Rampur. These charges range from land-grabbing to cheating and criminal trespass. In some cases, Azam’s wife Tanzeen Fatima, and son Abdullah Azam have been named as co-accused.
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