SP MLA Irfan Solanki, 4 others get 7-year jail in Kanpur arson case

One Nazir Fatima had accused Solanki, his brother and their aides of setting her house on fire located in Kanpur’s Jajmau

Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Irfan Solanki, his brother Rizwan Solanki and three others were on Friday handed 7 years’ imprisonment in the 2022 Jajmau arson case in Kanpur. The MP/MLA court here had convicted them in the case earlier this week. The court also imposed a fine of ₹30,500 each on them.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹30,500 each on them. (For Representation)

Irfan Solanki, the four-time MLA from Sisamau seat of Kanpur lodged in Maharajganj jail, appeared before the court through videoconferencing. The other convicts, including his brother Rizwan Solanki, builder Shaukat Ali, gangster Israel Attewala and Shareef, were produced before the court.

With a jail term of 7 years, Irfan Solanki could face disqualification from the U.P. Assembly. “Everyone knows we are innocent. The attempts to take the Sisamau assembly seat will not materialise. The seat has been in our family for 30 years. We will get the justice from the Almighty,” he told reporters while being taken to Kanpur jail.

His lawyer Kareem Ahmed Siddiqui said, “We will appeal against it (the verdict) in the high court.” Earlier, the prosecution and the defence gave their closing arguments. On November 7, 2022, the house of a widow Nazir Fatima, located in Defence Colony of Jajmau, caught fire. Fatima had accused SP MLA Irfan Solanki, his brother Rizwan Solanki and their associates of setting the house on fire.

The court convicted all five accused — Irfan, Rizwan, Mohd Sharif, Shaukat Ali and Israel Aatewala — on June 3 on charges of arson, causing harm, assault and threatening to kill. In this case, the police filed three charge sheets. The first chargesheet named Irfan, Rizwan, Shareef, Israel Attewala. The second named Anup Yadav, Shamsuddin, Haji Ajjan, Mahboob Alam, Ejazuddin and Bholu. The third chargesheet named Shakeel Chikna.

The accused in the second and third charge sheet would face trial in the case. During the entire process, the police seized property of Irfan Solanki and others worth ₹30 crore. Apart from this, the Enforcement Directorate also carried out raids at five places of the MLA last year. The ED had found documents related to many benami properties during the searches.