“I am not for sale. We have something called character. I am not a commodity to buy or sell. We have proven that we can win love and respect for people without being for sale,” Khan told journalists on Wednesday, September 24.
“”Na rehne ka kya sawaal hai (How is the question of not staying (with SP)), “he added, answering the question of whether he would continue to remain associated with SP.
Khan came out of prison on Tuesday, September 23, after obtaining a bonding in the context of the cases registered against him. He had stayed in Sitapur prison, in Uttar Pradesh, for more than 23 months.
On September 18, the high court of Allahabad granted a liberation under bond to the head of the SP in the affair of the Quality Bar Empiement in the Rampur district, in the UP.
Read more: Azam Khan, leader of the Samajwadi party, released from Sitapur prison after almost two years
“It will come out clean,” says Khan; 81 hanging files
Khan also declared that he hoped to obtain justice in all the proceedings against him. “I will be absolutely innocent,” he said, according to the PTI news agency.
However, Khan’s judicial setbacks do not seem to be overcome anytime soon. A report by the Hindustan Times indicates that around 81 cases are still awaiting judgment against the ten times deputy of Rampur, including cases linked to corruption, money laundering and land encroachment, among others.
The Directorate of the Application of Laws (ED) and the Department of Income Tax Investigate Khan’s involvement in the allegations of corruption and irregularities linked to the construction of the Campus of the University of Maulana Ali Jauhar, worth more than ₹ 418 million.
Khan would be at the head of the Jauhar Trust, which manages the University of Rampur.
According to an official quoted by the HT, the computer survey revealed that Zam Khan would have used ₹106.56 Broodes of money from the government to carry out work for the university without any appropriate sanction. The money belonged to the Department of Public Works (PWD), JAL NIGAM and the wing of construction and design services (C & DS) of JAL NIGAM. These works were carried out without government order.
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These three departments were led by Azam Khan when he was Minister of the Government of the Samajwadi Party between 2012 and 2017.
The ED also investigates this case under the law on the prevention of money laundering (PMLA). However, no assets from Khan has yet been seized.
