Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan might soon be listed as a land mafia on the Anti-Bhoo Mafia (anti-land mafia) portal of the Uttar Pradesh government. Khan, who is infamous for making controversial statements, has more than 30 cases in his name. Majority of these cases relate to grabbing of land belonging either to the government or to poor farmers.
The Anti-Bhoo Mafia portal was set up by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the year 2017 to identify land mafia and register complaints relating to land grabbing. According to Ajay Pal Sharma, the Superintendent of Police, Rampur, said that Khan’s name would be recommended to be listed on the portal considering his long history of involvement in land grabbing cases.
“The District Magistrate and I would be reviewing reports (FIR/cases) of various police stations in the district which relate to land grabbed by Azam Khan or his aides. Subsequently, his name would be recommended to be listed on the land mafia portal of the government”, said Sharma.
An FIR was registered against Khan, who is a member of Parliament from Rampur, by the Revenue Department at Azim Nagar Police Station. Based on the FIR a case was also registered against him on Friday. According to the FIR, Azam Khan and Aaalehasan Khan, a former police officer and Khan’s close aid, grabbed land from 26 farmers and utilised it in the construction of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. The University project was allegedly worth crores. The victim farmers whose lands were allegedly grabbed by Khan and were tortured to sign a forged sale deed will now file separate FIRs.
The State Revenue Department’s complaint alleges that Khan had misused his position as Cabinet Minister between 2012-17 for grabbing the land of the farmers. He is alleged to have illegally occupied 5,000 hectares of land. “This land comes under the riverside (of Kosi river) and cannot be acquired. However, revenue records were forged and subsequently, this land, worth over several hundred crores, was illegally occupied by Jauhar Ali University”, a Revenue officer said.
The SP supporters are opposing the action of the State government.