Azam Khan, wife and son shifted to Sitapur jail, Akhilesh visits

Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said, “Azam Khan, Abdullah and Tanzeen Fatima were shifted to Sitapur around 4.30 am on Thursday… It was done for security reasons. Their home is situated very close to the jail in Rampur. Several prisoners in the Rampur jail were jailed when Azam Khan was a minister. The jail authorities had written to the district administration that it was not suitable for him to be kept in Rampur jail. We could not shift them to districts in western UP because these are sensitive due to anti-CAA protests. The police, too, gave an opinion that they should be shifted,” Singh told The Indian Express on Thursday afternoon.

The DM added, “Another reason was that Azam had complained in court that his and Fatima’s health was not good and there are no good hospitals in Rampur. Therefore, it was decided to keep him near Lucknow, where there are good medical facilities. All protocols were followed for his transfer.”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav reached the Sitapur jail around 2 pm and met the three for around 15 minutes, said a jail official.

Asked what they discussed, Akhilesh said, “Nobody knows about it better than you (the media)… He is being targeted as part of a political conspiracy. A BJP leader has complained against Azam Khan. Will the BJP deny that he (complainant) is a BJP leader?”

On Wednesday, Azam, Tazeen Fatima and Abdullah were sent to jail after they surrendered before a local court in Rampur as their bail applications were rejected in connection with a case related to alleged forgery of Abdullah’s birth certificate. The next hearing in this matter will be held on March 2.