Lucknow: Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and party general secretary Azam Khan was on Thursday sentenced to ten years' imprisonment by a court in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur town in a case of assault, dacoity and others lodged against him in 2016.
The MP/MLA court also sentenced Khan's aide and contractor Barkat Ali to seven years' imprisonment in the matter. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 14 lakh on Khan, who was currently lodged in Sitapur district jail and joined the proceedings of the court through video conferencing.
According to the prosecution, Barkat Ali and some others, on the direction of Azam Khan, had barged into the houses of the residents of Dungarpur Basti in Rampur town in 2016, assaulted them and also taken away their valuables besides evicting them.
A total of 12 cases were lodged against Khan and his associates in connection with the matter in 2019.
Khan, who faced dozens of cases, had earlier been convicted in one of the cases pertaining to Dungarpur Basti eviction and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. A few months back Khan was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in a case of fake birth certificate of his son Abdullah Azam. His wife Tanzeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam were also sentenced to seven year's imprisonment.
According to the sources as many as 80 criminal cases were currently pending against Khan.
Reacting to the decision of the court, SP leaders said that a conspiracy had been hatched against Azam Khan by some officials who enjoyed the patronage of BJP. ''Azam Khan and his family are being targeted...it is part of a broad game plan to terrorise a section of the society,'' said an SP leader here.
Published 30 May 2024, 12:19 IST