Rampur: In fresh trouble for jailed Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Khan, an Uttar Pradesh court Saturday enhanced the sentence of the former MP from seven years to 10 years and raised the penalty imposed on his son from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh in the latter’s dual PAN card case.
The Special MP-MLA Court in Rampur also enhanced the penalty imposed on Azam Khan from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh, a lawyer said.
The court decision came in connection with the prosecution’s appeal seeking sentence enhancement for the father-son duo serving seven years’ imprisonment for the offence of Abdullah Khan possessing two PAN cards with different dates of birth (DOB), the lawyer added.
The former MP and his son were sentenced to seven years’ jail each November 17, 2025, after holding Abdullah Khan guilty of getting a second PAN card made with a wrong date of birth to increase his age on record, making him eligible to contest an election.
Earlier, Azam Khan’s appeal against his sentencing was dismissed by a court April 20 this year, while the decision on the prosecution’s appeal seeking sentence enhancement was delivered Saturday, the lawyer said.
The case was registered in the Civil Lines police station in Rampur on a fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Akash Kumar Saxena December 6, 2019.
He alleged that one of Abdullah’s PAN cards recorded his DOB as January 1, 1993, and the other mentioned September 30, 1990.
After the court decision Saturday, Saxena said, “This is a historic verdict, enhancing the sentence on an appeal. This is a rare case in which an appeal to increase a convict’s sentence has been accepted by the court.”
Earlier, during the trial, the prosecution succeeded in proving in court that Abdullah Khan, a former MLA, indulged in forgery to qualify for contesting an election and Azam Khan was part of the larger conspiracy.
The prosecution said that Abdullah was underage and did not meet the requirement for a minimum age to contest an election. To increase his age in records, he used a fake DOB and got a second PAN card made.
At the time of the court judgment November 17 last year, Azam Khan had barely stepped out of jail in another matter.
Complainant Saxena alleged that forged documents were used to prepare the PAN cards that were used for electoral purposes and filing income tax documents.
