HC REJECTS BAIL PLEA OF AZAM KHAN, SON ABDULLAH

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday rejected the bail application of Member of Parliament Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam Khan, in two cases relating to alleged cheating and forgery.

The allegations against them were that they forged the PAN card showing a wrong date of birth of Abdullah to enable him to contest state elections from the Swar constituency of Rampur in 2017.

Justice Suneet Kumar, while rejecting the bail application filed by Mohammad Azam Khan and Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, expedited the trial pending before lower court and observed, “The applicants are at liberty to approach the court for bail after the witnesses of fact are examined in the trial. In view of the mandate of the Supreme Court in Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India the trial is expedited.”

The court observed, “With regard to the allegations that the applicants did not cooperate with the investigation and court proceedings, consequently, coercive measures had to be adopted against them. Further, having regard to the position and status of the accused persons, the repetition of the offences, and the deep rooted and pervasive influence that the applicants exercise in various departments of the state, there is reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, and danger to the course of justice being thwarted. In the circumstances, grant of bail at this stage would not be in public interest.

In 2019, two FIRs were lodged against the applicants alleging that on January 24, 2017, Abdullah filed nomination papers for contesting from Swar assembly constituency, Rampur. In the nomination papers Abdullah’s date of birth was wrongly mentioned as September 30, 1990, to make him eligible for contesting elections and in support a forged PAN card was filed which was prepared and Azam Khan helped him procure the PAN card.