Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan who is currently lodged in Sitapur jail has tested positive for COVID-19. Besides, the senior politician, 12 other inmates in the jail have also tested positive for the virus.
Khan, along with his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam, has been lodged in jail since February 26, 2020, after they surrendered at Rampur court. Khan’s wife, however, had secured bail, but his son and he are still in jail.
Azam Khan is a Lok Sabha MP from Rampur, his wife is an MLA from Rampur Assembly seat, and their son was an MLA from Suar until being disqualified by an Allahabad High Court order in December 2019. The court had annulled Abdullah Azam’s election as a MLA on the grounds that he was underage and not qualified to fight the polls in 2017.
In January last year, BJP leader Akash Saxena had filed a complaint accusing Azam Khan and Tazeen Fatma of helping their son get two fake birth certificates – one from Lucknow and another from Rampur. Abdullah Azam had faced allegations that he gave a wrong date of birth when he filed his nomination papers for the 2017 Assembly elections. The Rampur police then registered an FIR.
The three had surrendered in February before a Rampur court as their bail applications were rejected in connection with the alleged forgery case. Police had then said that Azam Khan was facing over 80 other cases, ranging from land grabbing, and stealing buffaloes, goats, and books, which are currently pending against him.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Friday reported 34,626 new cases in the last 24 hours while 32,494 people were discharged from hospitals.
Related
