‘Land Grabber’: Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan Listed On UP Government Portal After Farmers File Complaints

With 13 FIRs being lodged against him over allegations of land-grabbing, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan has now officially been declared a 'land mafia' by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government, reports Times of India.

The Rampur district administration has put up the name of Azam Khan and former Rampur city circle officer Alay Hasan Khan on the anti-land mafia portal of the state government.

Around 26 local farmers have accused Azam Khan and his close aide Hasan of forcefully acquiring their land for a university during Akhilesh Yadav's SP regime in the state.

“As many as 26 farmers had claimed that Azam Khan and his close aide Alay Hasan Khan acquired their land for the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University through coercion,” Rampur SDM Prem Prakash Tiwari said.

SP MLAs, however, staged a protest in front of Vidhan Sabha building in Lucknow urging the state government to withdraw the cases against their frontline leader and his family members. SP MLA from Moradabad Dehat, Haji Iqram Qureshi said that they will protest in front of the Speaker in the assembly if cases against the Rampur MP and his family are not withdrawn.

Azam Khan called the development a conspiracy by the Rampur District Magistrate (DM) Aunjaneya Kumar Singh to defame him and the university.