Nearly two months after senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan walked out of jail, a Rampur court on Monday sentenced him and his son, former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan, to seven years’ imprisonment in a forgery case involving two PAN cards.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOThe court ordered their immediate custody following the conviction. Abdullah had been out on bail in the matter.On Monday morning, the court held Azam and his son guilty after which they were taken into custody. “Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shobit Bansal has convicted Azam Khan and his son to seven years imprisonment and also imposed fine on them. They have been taken into custody,” said Joint Director, Prosecution (Rampur), Rohtash Kumar Pandey.The duo have been convicted under IPC sections 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 420 (cheating), 471 (fraudulently or deceptively using authentic document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), said Pandey. Nine prosecution and 18 defence witnesses were examined by the court.Azam’s lawyer Nasir Sultan said they would file an appeal against the judgment.According to the prosecution, the case stems from an FIR lodged on December 6, 2019, by Akash Saxena — the complainant and now a sitting BJP MLA — at the Ganj police station, alleging that Abdullah had used two different PAN cards, bearing different dates of birth, and derived undue benefit from their use.It was alleged that Abdullah had been using a PAN card that showed his date of birth as January 1, 1993, which corresponded with his educational high school records. The same PAN card was used to open and operate a bank account and file his income tax returns.Story continues below this adHowever, while contesting the Assembly elections from Suar constituency as an SP candidate in 2017, it was alleged that Abdullah altered his bank passbook and changed the PAN number before submitting his nomination papers. He is alleged to have filed a forged copy of the passbook along with the nomination.The second PAN recorded his date of birth as September 30, 1990, and was allegedly used to falsely project eligibility and obtain an unlawful advantage, said the prosecution. The prosecution alleged that Abdullah, acting in conspiracy with his father, furnished fabricated and false information and documents in the nomination papers to conceal his age-related disqualification for contesting the election.The prosecution also stated that at the time of filing the nomination, the said bank account was neither linked to nor operated through the second PAN.On being contacted, BJP MLA Akash Saxena said the case is related to using two PAN cards for personal benefits.Story continues below this adCases against Azam KhanOn September 23 this year, Azam was released from Sitapur jail on bail after spending nearly two years in custody.A 10-time MLA from Rampur Sadar and a former Cabinet minister, he is considered one of the SP’s prominent Muslim leaders and has long been a key figure in the party.His legal troubles began with a hate speech case filed against him ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections — marking one of the first cases initiated against him. The UP Police records further show that over 81 of these cases were filed against Azam after the BJP came to power in UP in 2017.Of these, around 70 cases were registered in 2019 alone, followed by six more in 2020. These cases cover a wide range of charges, including land grabbing, cheating, vandalism, trespass, hate speech and criminal intimidation.Story continues below this adIncluding the current case, Azam has been convicted in seven cases — six in Rampur and one in Moradabad. He has filed appeals against all these convictions and has secured bail in six of them. In addition, Khan has been acquitted in six other cases. However, the state government has challenged a few of these acquittals in higher courts, and the appeals remain pending.