In yet another setback to Samajwadi Party MLA Mohammad Azam Khan, the UP Shia Waqf Board has taken possession of several waqf properties from him and has handed them over to Rampur’s royal family, a Shia Muslim.
Azam Khan, who was elected to Lok Sabha from Rampur in 2019, and to UP assembly in March 2022, is presently lodged in Sitapur district jail in connection with over 100 cases pertaining to theft, criminal intimidation, fraud and encroachment.
According to Shia Waqf Board Chairman Ali Zaidi, after the formation of the SP government in the state in 2012, many waqf properties were ‘encroached’ upon by then Waqf Minister Mohammad Azam Khan and they have been returned to the original owners after due investigation. He said this decision was taken in the last meeting of the Shia Waqf Board on March 31.
Zaidi said that during his tenure, Khan had illegally encroached upon seven ‘alal aulad’ (succession-based) waqf properties of the royal family, including the fortified mosque and an ‘imambara’. He said Azam Khan did this by directing Wasim Rizvi, the then chairman of Shia Waqf Board, and made an outsider Waseem Khan the caretaker of these properties.
Once this was done, Azam Khan demolished the Shaukat Ali Bazar built on these properties in May 2013 despite a stay order by the court.
Zaidi said after the reorganisation of the Shia Waqf Board in November last year, an inquiry was conducted into the complaints of illegal occupation of the waqf properties of the royal family, on the basis of which Waseem Khan was removed and Haider Ali Khan alias Hamza Miyan, the grandson of Begum Noorbano of the royal family, was made the caretaker.
Significantly, the rivalry between Azam Khan and the royal family of Rampur is over 40 years old. The attitude of Azam Khan, who started his politics by giving the slogan ‘Nawab versus Awam (king versus subjects)’, was openly against the royal family of Rampur. Azam Khan, who was in an important position in the SP government, has been aggressive against the royal family of Rampur.