Tax Evasion of Rs. 800 Cr by Azam Khan suspected by Income Tax Department

The Income Tax Department is suspected of a tax evasion of more than Rs.800 crore by senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan after conducting raids on him and those connected to him for three days, according to official sources.

Income tax investigators began their search on Wednesday at 7 am and finished it on Friday at Khan’s home on Jail Road in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.

Around 7 o’clock on Friday night, when the officials had left his home, Khan showed up and announced, “IT department was raided. They remained here for three days. They searched and questioned. Khan declined to respond to more queries.

As part of an investigation into Khan’s alleged tax evasion, the Income Tax department conducted raids at more than 30 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on September 13.

According to official sources, the department has raided some locations in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh as well as Rampur, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

The Income Tax department conducted a search of a home in Ghaziabad’s Rajnagar Colony on Wednesday. Ekta Kaushik, who is rumoured to be close to Khan’s family, is the owner of the home.

IT investigation relates to a few trusts that Khan and his family members manage, the sources said.

The Public Works Department, the district panchayat office, and Khan’s Muhammad Ali Jauhar University were all included in the investigation’s expanded scope, according to the officials. They claimed that the government expenditure records are being examined because the politician was suspected of evading taxes in excess of Rs 800 crore.

The Samajwadi Party responded angrily to the raids, promising to support Khan and accusing the BJP administration of “dictatorship” and “misusing central agencies.”

“The voice of truth is that of Azam Khan saheb. He created a university for education and laid the groundwork for children’s better futures”, the party claimed in a post on X in Hindi after the Wednesday raids.

“Khan has always fought against forces from the community. With his voice, we are all one,” it declared.

In response to claims that central agencies were being misused, BJP leader and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya stated that the central agencies had every right to take action to make “Bharat corruption-free.” Khan was found guilty of using hate speech last year after making a comment at a gathering of the public in the village of Khatanagaria in the Milak Kotwali region in 2019.

Following his three-year imprisonment, he lost his eligibility to serve as Rampur’s MLA. However, because of his conviction in a different case, his disqualification was not lifted even after he was later declared innocent by a higher court.