The Income-tax department on Wednesday launched raids at over 30 premises in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as part of a tax evasion probe against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and those linked to him.
The searches are being conducted in Rampur, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh apart from some premises in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh, they said. The I-T probe is related to some trusts run by Khan and his family members, the sources said.
As many as 81 cases have been registered against Khan in Rampur on various charges, including land-grabbing, cheating and criminal trespass, ever since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
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He was recently convicted by a Rampur court in a hate speech case lodged during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. The court sentenced him to two years imprisonment and imposed on a Rs 2,500 fine on him too. The case was registered against him for allegedly making provocative remarks against Yogi Adityanath and IAS Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, the then DM.
So far, the IT department has conducted raids at Regency Public School and Regency Institute of Management and Technology in UP's Sitapur and residence of advocate Mushtaq Ahmed Siddiqui in Lucknow among others.
