Allegation of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan getting special jail treatment found ‘untrue’

Lucknow: A police inquiry into the allegation that Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, now in jail on charges of forgery, is getting special treatment has found the claim to be untrue, UP’s director general (prisons), Anand Kumar told ET.

Activist Faisal Lala, a bete noire of Khan in Rampur for years, had written to the state government in February claiming it had been brought to his notice that Khan is being served restaurant food and is allowed to use his cellphone within the jail premises.

Kumar told ET the matter was probed and an interim report has found the allegation to be untrue. He said the allegation seemed to be “motivated” and that Khan is living like an ordinary inmate in the jail.


Lala has been summoned on August 20 to give his statement on the issue before the police prepare a complete report, Kumar said. Khan had surrendered before a Rampur court in February in a fake birth certificate case, along with his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam. Lala’s letter, a copy of which is with ET, also alleged that Khan is being allowed to meet his aides who are of “suspicious and criminal nature”.