LUCKNOW: Even after securing bail from the Allahabad High Court on Thursday in the Rampur Quality Bar land grabbing case, the release of senior Samajwadi Party leader and former UP cabinet minister Azam Khan from Sitapur district jail has hit a legal hurdle. Khan, who has been lodged in jail for 23 months, was expected to walk free, but fresh charges filed by Rampur Police in another case have stalled his release.
On Thursday, Justice Samir Jain of the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Khan in the case related to the alleged land grabbing of Quality Bar in Rampur district. This was the last of the many cases in which Azam Khan had been seeking bail, and the order had been reserved on August 21. His lawyers had claimed that the order would finally pave the way for Khan’s release, as it was the last pending criminal case requiring bail.
However, late on Thursday evening, his counsel Imran Ullah informed media persons that in FIR number 126/20—registered in Rampur and linked to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University and the alleged encroachment of enemy property—Rampur Police had invoked three additional IPC sections: 467 (forgery of government documents), 471 (using forged documents as genuine), and 201 (destruction of evidence).
“Initially, the police had charged Khan under IPC Sections 420, 120-B, and 468. He had already secured bail for all those charges. But with these new sections added, he will now have to apply for fresh bail,” the lawyer said.
The added offences carry punishments ranging from seven years to life imprisonment. The matter is scheduled for hearing in the Rampur MP/MLA court on Saturday, September 20.