Dual PAN card case: Azam Khan back in jail after he, son get 7-year term

The verdict came shortly after the court declared both guilty in the 2019 case. They were also fined ₹50,000 each.

Barely two months after he was released after getting bail in the Quality Bar land encroachment case, senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan along with his son Abdullah Azam was on Monday was sent back to jail after they were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment each by the special MP/MLA court in Rampur in a 2019 case related to obtaining two PAN cards using different dates of birth.

Both Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam were sent to Rampur district jail. (HT file)

The verdict came shortly after the court declared both guilty in the case. They were also fined ₹50,000 each. Following the pronouncement of the sentence, police officials took them into custody in the courtroom itself and later they were sent to Rampur district jail.

Meanwhile, Azam Khan’s legal team, led by advocate Nasir Sultan, said they will challenge the verdict in a higher court. “We have not yet received the certified copy of the court order. Once we examine it thoroughly, we will certainly take the matter before the higher judiciary,” Sultan said.

Speaking to media persons outside the Rampur district jail, Azam Khan said, “I do not wish to say anything. They found me guilty and pronounced the punishment. That’s alright.”

Additional district government counsel Sandeep Saxena said both Azam and Abdullah were sentenced under multiple sections: seven years under IPC section 467 (forgery of valuable security), one year under section 120B (criminal conspiracy), three years each under Sections 468 and 420 (forgery for cheating and cheating) and two years under Section 471 (using forged document as genuine).

While Khan had been released from Sitapur jail on September 23, his son Abdullah walked free from Hardoi jail nine months earlier. In total Azam Khan faces 104 cases. So far, judgments have been delivered in 11 of these cases—six resulting in convictions and five in acquittals.

The case was lodged in 2019 by BJP leader Akash Saxena, who accused Azam of getting two PAN cards issued for his son Abdullah using two different birth certificates. Saxena alleged that since Abdullah’s real birth date—January 1, 1993—made him ineligible to contest the 2017 assembly election (as he had not turned 25 then), Azam allegedly got another PAN card made showing 1990 as the year of his birth.

Meanwhile, calling the verdict a “victory of truth,” Akash Saxena, now an MLA, said all cases against Azam Khan were backed by documentary evidence. On July 23 this year, the Allahabad high court had dismissed a plea by Azam Khan seeking quashing of the twin PAN card cases. Azam later approached the Supreme Court but failed to secure relief.

On October 18, 2023, a Rampur court sentenced Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma, and Abdullah to seven years’ imprisonment in a case related to Abdullah’s fake birth certificate.

In 2017 after Abdullah won the Suar assembly seat of Rampur. BSP candidate Nawab Kazim Ali Khan challenged his age, claiming Abdullah was under 25 at the time of filing nomination. Investigations confirmed the allegation, leading to annulment of Abdullah’s election and cancellation of his membership.

Azam Khan, his wife and son were jailed in the case. Although Abdullah won again from the Suar assembly seat in 2022, his membership was once more revoked following conviction in a case related to obstruction of government work.

Azam Khan himself lost his MLA membership after further legal setbacks. Following this, a by-election was held on December 5, 2022, for the Rampur City seat where BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated SP’s Asim Raza by a margin of 25,703 votes.

The SP said strict action would be taken against anyone attempting to interfere with the preservation work of protected structures. While Hafiz was arrested after 24 hours of detention and questioning, teams have been deployed to track the other absconding accused.