Retired police officer gets bail in cases related to Azam Khan

It was alleged in the FIRs filed by the revenue officer and other tenure holders (farmers) that former Minister Azam Khan and then CO (city) Aley Hasan Khan had threatened and pressured the farmers to execute sale deeds in favour of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.

It was also alleged that the former police officer and minister had also threatened to implicate them in false cases and that they were even kept in lock-up for a day and their land was illegally merged into the campus of the university.

Allowing the bail application filed by Aley Hasan Khan in all the 26 cases, where allegations were more or less the same, Justice Raj Beer Singh observed, “The FIRs of all the cases have been lodged after a delay of about 14 to 15 years. In the FIRs, no date, time, or place of the alleged incidents have been mentioned. There is no such allegation that the applicant is in possession of any of the disputed land of any of the complainant. No sale deed has been executed in favour of the applicant-accused. It was shown that the applicant accused is neither the founder nor the trustee or member of the said Trust. It has also been shown that main co-accused Mohd Azam Khan, who is founder/trustee of the said Trust, has already been granted bail.”

The court observed, “Applicant is languishing in jail since May 7, 2023 and investigation of all the cases is complete and charge sheets have already been submitted in the court. Hence, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the cases, a case for bail is made out.”

Earlier, counsel for the applicant had contended that the FIRs were lodged against the applicant after a delay of several years due to political vendetta.

“The applicant retired from services on June 30, 2017 and soon after his retirement, police registered many cases against him within a span of two months, under the influence of the ruling party of the state,” added the counsel for the applicant.