The Income Tax department’s ongoing raid at the residence of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, has extended into its third consecutive day. This operation is part of a tax evasion investigation targeting Khan and his associates. The Income Tax teams initially launched searches at more than 30 locations across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The searches, spanning various cities including Rampur, Meerut, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, and Sitapur, focused on multiple premises linked to the Samajwadi Party leader. Notably, the raid at Khan’s Rampur residence continued on Thursday.
Azam Khan, who represented the Rampur Sadar constituency as an MLA, faced disqualification from the state Assembly following a court’s three-year jail sentence in a hate speech case.
This case was registered against him in April 2019 for making serious allegations against administrative officials, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during an election meeting, particularly during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, in May 2022, the Allahabad High Court granted Azam Khan interim bail in a case related to the alleged wrongful possession of Waqf board property land. Azam Khan’s political journey began with his victory in the 1980 assembly election on the Janata Party (Secular) ticket from Rampur. He has served as a minister in the governments of both Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Notably, Azam Khan has faced a total of 81 cases in Rampur, including charges such as land grabbing, cheating, criminal trespass, and hate speech. His wife and former MP, Tanzeen Fatima, as well as their son and former MLA, Abdullah Azam Khan, have also been named in at least 40 cases. All three individuals are currently out on bail.
Azam Khan, along with Tanzeen and Abdullah, was arrested in February 2020 in a case involving alleged forgery of the latter’s birth certificate. Azam Khan was released from jail in May 2022, while Tanzeen was released in December 2020, and Abdullah in January 2022.
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