Income tax raid on Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in UP, MP over Al Jauhar Trust
IT raid on Azam Khan: Several locations linked to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan were searched on Wednesday morning.
The income tax department on Wednesday morning raided several premises linked to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. Raids are ongoing in Lucknow, Rampur, Meertut, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Sitapur. According to reports, the IT raids are in connection with the Al Jauhar Trust. At least 30 premises were searched by the income tax officials on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The raids were part of a tax evasion probe against Azam Khan.
Regency Public School and Regency Institute of Management & Technology in UP's Sitapur was raided as part of the agency's action against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. Advocate Mushtaq Ahmed Siddiqui's residence in Lucknow came on IT radar on Wednesday in connection with the same case.
"It seems that those sitting in Delhi are taking these measures out of desperation. At the behest of Uttar Pradesh Govt, hundreds of false cases were filed against Azam Khan...As far as Income Tax raids are concerned, I don't think such an action should take place at the residence of an honest man like him. He doesn't have anything of his own, there is something pertaining to the University and it is public...If people stoop to such petty levels in politics, it will not be right for anyone." Samajwadi MP Ram Gopal Yadav said.
Former Cabinet minister Azam Khan is the head of the Al Jauhar Trust. Early this year, the UP government cancelled a lease for a 3.24 acre plot in Rampur given to the Trust to set up[ a research institute. The lease for this plot was signed in 2013-14 for ₹100 a year for more than 30 years. It was cancelled by the government on allegations of irregularities. The research institute was never built.
