Rampur (UP), July 31 (UNI) Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan and five others were acquitted by a special court in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh in the Dungarpur case, prosecution sources said.
Prosecution sources said that the Dungarpur case dates back to 2016, when the SP was in power in the state and Azam Khan was the cabinet minister. "During his tenure Aasra housing was built for the poor in Dungarpur near the police line," they said.
Prosecution sources said that it was alleged that during this time the already built houses of some people were demolished by claiming that they were on government land. "These people had filed cases in Ganj Kotwali in 2019 after the Bharatiya Janata Party (JP) government was formed," they said.
Prosecution sources said that in the cases filed by 12 people, it was alleged that at the behest of Azam Khan in the SP government, the police and party workers forcibly vacated their houses to build Aasra housing. "It was alleged that their belongings were looted, and the houses were demolished by running bulldozers," they said.
Prosecution advocate Seema Rana said that all the six accused including Azam Khan have been acquitted. The copy of the court's decision has not been received yet.
Prosecution sources said that six people including Azam Khan, former Circle Officer (CO) Ale Hasan, Barkat Thekedar, Parvez Shamsi, Ikram Khan, Imran have been acquitted in the case, while accused Sajjad had died. "Out of the total 12 cases of Azam Khan, hearing has been done in six. Azam Khan has been acquitted in four of these cases, while he has been sentenced in two," they said.
He has been sentenced to 10 years in one and seven years in the other. The verdict was pronounced in the case of plaintiff Idris son Ilahi Bakhsh, resident of Shivpuri police station Swar Rampur.
The verdict was pronounced by Additional District Judge MP MLA Court Dr Vijay Kumar. During the hearing, Azam Khan appeared through video conferencing. Azam Khan is lodged in Sitapur jail, while all the other accused were brought to the court by the police.
UNI XC AB GNK