SP leader Azam Khan, son Abdullah sentenced to seven-year jail term in dual PAN card case

LUCKNOW: Senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam, were sentenced to seven years in a dual PAN card case by the MP/MLA Court in Rampur on Monday. Advocate Sandip Saxena, while providing details, stated that the court convicted both leaders after finding them guilty in the case involving two fake PAN cards of Abdullah Azam Khan. The order was delivered under sections of forgery, fraud, and criminal conspiracy. The Rampur MP/MLA court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each. Following the verdict, police personnel took Azam Khan and Abdullah into custody inside the courtroom. The fake PAN card case dates back to December 2019. In Rampur, BJP MLA Akash Saxena had lodged a case against Abdullah Azam at the Civil Lines police station, alleging that Azam Khan had helped his son obtain two PAN cards using two different birth certificates so that he could contest the UP Assembly elections in 2017. After completing the probe, Rampur police had charge-sheeted Abdullah Azam and named Azam Khan as the co-accused of criminal conspiracy. Notably, Azam Khan was released from Sitapur Jail only two months ago, on September 23, 2025. His son, Abdullah, was released nine months earlier from Hardoi Jail. Now both are poised for a return to prison. Significantly, the Supreme Court of India, last year, had dismissed a petition seeking the quashing of the FIR lodged against Azam Khan and his son in connection with using forged documents to get a passport and also using two PAN cards. The petition to get the FIR quashed was filed by Abdullah Azam, over which the Supreme Court had said that there seemed to be no reason to quash the FIR. According to Abdullahs actual date of birthJanuary 1, 1993he was not eligible to contest the 2017 UP Assembly elections because he had not completed the minimum age of 25 years. Therefore, Azam allegedly arranged a second PAN card showing his birth year as 1990. Consequently, one PAN card of Abdullah Azam had his DoB as January 1, 1993, while the other one had it as September 30, 1990. Reacting to the verdict, complainant Akash Saxena, the BP MLA, said that all the cases against Azam Khan were based on paper evidence. There is no such case where there is no evidence against him. That's why the court sentenced him. Whoever has done wrong will surely be punished.