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Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan
After Income Tax department raids on properties associated with contractors close to jailed Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, numerous financial irregularities related to his Jauhar University were uncovered.
According to Amar Ujala, it was found that a government department had issued a tender for beautification and development of picnic spot at a lake located behind Jauhar University in Rampur. This project was awarded to a contractor closely associated with Azam Khan.
However, the contractor used the majority of the budget to the construction work at Jauhar University, rather than government projects, while the responsible officials remained silent. Consequently, the government project remained incomplete.
It appears that these contractors were involved in extensive financial discrepancies. Additionally, Azam Khan is suspected to have earned commission from these contractors in exchange of securing government contracts.
The widespread anomalies in using MLA and MP funds for the construction work at Jauhar University have been discovered. Sources indicate that six contractors linked to Azam Khan are under scrutiny by the income tax department and will be questioned soon.
Till now, contractors related to Jal Nigam, Public Works Department (PWD) and rural development department have been raided and officials related to them will soon be scrutinised based on documents found from these raids.
These contractors are under scrutiny for withdrawing large sums of cash from their bank accounts and not providing satisfactory explanations during the raids. The authorities suspect that Azam Khan used these contractors for misappropriating government fund.
In Lucknow, five close associates of Azam Khan have come under the radar of the Income Tax Department. Among them are Ahmed Haroon, an architect from Gomti Nagar, along with Nisar Ahmed, Sameen Ahmed, Seema Nadim from Indiranagar, and Afaq Ahmed from Dalibagh.
Afaq Ahmed used to work as an OSD (Officer on Special Duty) for Azam Khan, when he was a minister in Uttar Pradesh and has been living in the United States for several years.
During an investigation into the Jal Nigam recruitment scam, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had congiscated his residence two years ago. Now, the Income Tax Department is searching for their remaining properties and assets, as well as those of his relatives.
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