BAREILLY: Rampur police filed a supplementary chargesheet in an ongoing school affiliation case on Friday and named senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan as a "co-accused". This is the second chargesheet in this case which was originally registered against Azam's wife, Tanzeen Fatimah and Taufeeq Ahmad, a government clerk. The latest development may further muddle Azam's bail process.
The move came just hours after the SC expressed displeasure over delay in hearing Azam's bail application in an enemy property land grabbing case, calling it "a travesty of justice", and noted that he "got bail in 86 out of 87 cases".
The Allahabad HC had on Thursday reserved its order on Azam's bail plea in the same case. Incidentally, Azam's lawyer had recently pleaded before SC for a "timely decision on bail plea of this case after its delay in HC".
In the latest school affiliation case against Azam, the initial FIR was registered against his wife and the clerk at the Basic Shiksha Adhikari office in Rampur under Kotwali police station following a probe carried out by the BSA on a complaint of BJP member Akash Saxena. The school is run by Azam's Jauhar Trust.
Saxena, who lost to Azam in the recent assembly polls, told TOI, "Azam Khan had made fake documents of the school using his influence to get affiliation from its board. Police had named only his wife and Taufeeq as accused. Hence, I filed an objection against the chargesheet and a re-investigation was ordered." In the second chargesheet, police have added IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against Azam. The MP/MLA court has now issued a fresh warrant against Azam, which has been reportedly served to him in Sitapur jail. The former UP minister has been in jail since February 2020.
