Lucknow: Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and lawyer Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan were on Saturday sentenced to seven-year prison terms by the MP/MLA Special Court in Rampur in a dual PAN cards case.
Father and son were found guilty of holding two PAN cards with different dates of birth.
They were sentenced after being charged under sections of forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy. The special court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.
It was BJP leader Akash Saxena’s complaint in 2019 that led to the case.
As per the complaint, Abdullah possessed two PAN cards — one with a birth date of January 1, 1993, and another with September 30, 1990.
Prosecutors argued that the second birth date was made up to meet the minimum age requirement of 25 years to contest the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
Azam Khan conspired with his son to create and use forged documents, and also altered bank records to replace the old PAN card with the new forged version and facilitate Abdullah’s nomination for the Swar Assembly seat, according to court findings.
Abullah, who won that election, was suspended. He became an MLA for the second time in 2023 only to be suspended a second time.
His father Azam became MLA for a tenth term in 2022, but was suspended in the hate speech case. He is also a former MP from Rampur.
The former minister of Uttar Pradesh al walked out of jail after 23 months in the case related to alleged encroachment of the Quality Bar property in Rampur.
