Azam Khan, son Abdullah sentenced to up to 7 years in dual PAN card case

Rampur (UP), Nov 17 (PTI) Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam were on Monday convicted and sentenced to jail terms of up to seven years by a special MP/MLA court here in a 2019 case related to obtaining two PAN cards using different dates of birth, a prosecution officer said.

Delivering the verdict, Special Magistrate (MP/MLA Court) Shobhit Bansal held both father and son guilty after examining documentary evidence and witness testimonies, Prosecution Officer Rakesh Kumar Maurya told reporters.

Maurya also said the prosecution would review the judgment and may consider filing an appeal if it feels the punishment is inadequate.

Asked whether Azam Khan and Abdullah would be taken into custody following the conviction, Maurya responded, "Yes, absolutely".

The case was lodged in 2019 at Rampur's Civil Lines police station by BJP leader Akash Saxena under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

According to the prosecution, Abdullah obtained a PAN card from the Income Tax Department mentioning January 1, 1993 as his date of birth, which matched the date in his school and High School certificates.

The same date was also used in the records of his State Bank of India account operated by him.

The court held that Abdullah had procured the forged PAN card "in conspiracy with his father" and submitted it in official records. PTI COR KIS KSS KSS