Azam Khan’s son sentenced in fake passport case, sent to seven years in jail

Since being sent to jail on November 17, the duo have had their bail cancelled in several pending cases.

On Friday, Abdullah appeared before the court through video conference from the district jail. “The court found Abdullah guilty under IPC sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 in the passport-related case. Later in the day, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur, Shobit Bansal sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 50,000,” said Rampur Joint Director Prosecution, Rohtas Kumar Pandey.

He added that the court examined five prosecution witnesses and 19 defence witnesses before delivering its verdict.

Abdullah’s lawyer Nasir Sultan said they would file an appeal against the judgment in the sessions court. He confirmed this was Abdullah’s third conviction.

What is the case about?

According to the prosecution, the case is based on an FIR filed by BJP leader Saxena at the Civil Lines police station. He alleged that Abdullah obtained his passport using forged documents. While Abdullah’s educational records — including his high school certificate — show his date of birth as January 1, 1993, the date of birth on the passport is recorded as September 30, 1990.

Abdullah had earlier moved the Allahabad High Court seeking quashing of the present case. He argued that he had already been convicted in another matter for using forged documents to obtain his date of birth certificate, which was later used for securing his passport. On this basis, he claimed that the current proceedings amounted to double jeopardy, meaning prosecution for the same offence twice.

However, in its order dated July 23, the High Court rejected this contention, observing that the two offences “prima facie appear to be different and distinctive offences”. The court further held that the factual foundations of the two cases were also separate.

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the Allahabad HC order.

PAN card case

In the PAN card case, it was alleged that Abdullah had one PAN card showing his date of birth as January 1, 1993 — matching his school records — and used it for his bank account and tax filings.

But during the 2017 Assembly elections, he allegedly changed the PAN number in his bank passbook and submitted a forged copy with his nomination papers. The second PAN card listed his date of birth as September 30, 1990, and was allegedly used to claim false eligibility and gain an unfair advantage, the prosecution had said.

In 2023, two days after Abdullah — then the Samajwadi Party MLA from Suar in Rampur — was convicted, he was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He had been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment along with his father in an old case involving the obstruction of traffic after their vehicle was stopped for checking in Moradabad.

This marked Abdullah’s second disqualification. He was first disqualified in 2020 after the Allahabad High Court set aside his 2017 election, ruling that he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers.