Scores of people protested in front of Rampur collectorate demanding the arrest of former minister Azam Khan for his alleged involvement in the Jal Nigam recruitment scam.
leading the protesters, former Rampur Zila Panchayat Chairman Hafiz Abdul Sayeed later submitted a memorandum to district magistrate demanding the immediate arrest of Khan against whom an FIR was lodged by the SIT of UP Police in connection with the scam. Azam Khan was Chairman of Jal Nigam, when the recruitments were done.
Shouting slogans against Azam Khan, the protestors surged towards the DM’s office but were restrained from entering the collectorate campus. They later succeeded in handing over a memorandum demanding Khan’s arrest.
Khan was booked along with others under IPC Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) besides section 13(1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The SIT is probing complaints of anomalies during recruitment of 1,342 persons in Jal Nigam during Akhilesh Yadav regime. Khan was questioned by the SIT on January 22, wherein he had claimed that the recruitment was done as per law and that the BJP government was hell-bent on tarnishing his image.
The Allahabad High Court had ordered a probe into the allegations after some candidates who were not selected in the recruitment drive moved the court.
Khan however dismissed the charges against him, terming them as an act of ‘political vendetta’.
“If for providing jobs to youths, I am being blamed as dishonest, then no one in the world should be treated as honest. Fingers are being raised towards me in spite of the fact that courts have given verdicts in my favour. The government action is a clear case of political vendetta,” Khan said.