One fake PAN card and entire political career ruined, know the inside story of Azam Khan’s son going to jail

Rampur: The troubles of Samajwadi Party’s senior leader Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam are not showing any sign of abating. Rampur MP/MLA Court of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday gave a big verdict in the much talked about case related to a fake PAN card and sentenced a father and son to 10 years of jail each.

In this case, the court has increased the already fixed jail sentence of 7 years by 3 years. This tough decision of the court has come after hearing a petition filed by the state government. Along with this, the court has also imposed a huge fine of Rs 5 lakh each on both the culprits. Let us understand in detail what this whole matter was and due to which crime the punishment of Azam Khan and his son increased so much.

What is the whole matter of dual PAN card?

This entire controversy started with a complaint by BJP leader and Rampur city MLA Akash Saxena. He had filed a case at Kotwali Civil Lines police station in Rampur on July 30, 2019. It was alleged in the complaint that Abdullah Azam had made two different PAN cards by ignoring the rules. When police investigation found evidence of Azam Khan’s involvement and presence in this forgery, he was also made a co-accused in this case.

Investigation revealed that Abdullah Azam had obtained two different PAN cards with the help of forged documents, in which his dates of birth were also different. In the first PAN card, his date of birth was recorded as 1 January 1993, whereas in the second PAN card, it was changed to 30 September 1990.

The lower court had earlier sentenced 7 years

After a long and marathon hearing in this high-profile case, the MP/MLA court of Rampur had convicted the father-son duo on 17 November 2025. Then the court sentenced both of them to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 each. Since this decision, Azam Khan and Abdullah are serving their sentence in Azam District Jail.

Challenging this decision, Azam and his son had filed an appeal in the Sessions Court. During the hearing, while defense lawyer Nasir Sultan and his team presented their arguments, on behalf of the government, ADGC Seema Rana and Additional Advocate General presented the prosecution’s side strongly in front of the court. The arguments of both the sides were completed on 6 April 2026, after which the court reserved the decision.

Azam Khan had woven a net to make his son MLA

The story of this manipulation in PAN card is related to the 2017 assembly elections. During that time, Azam Khan was holding the post of Urban Development Minister in the SP government led by Akhilesh Yadav and his coin was in circulation. He wanted to field his son Abdullah Azam from Swar assembly seat of Rampur. But the biggest legal hurdle was that Abdullah was under age to contest elections and on the basis of his original educational documents, he was proving to be ineligible.

It is alleged that using his political intimidation and reach, Azam Khan got a fake birth certificate of his son prepared from the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. On the basis of this forged paper, a second fake PAN card of Abdullah was made so that the age on paper could be shown as suitable for contesting elections. This process of forgery did not stop here, but Abdullah also got two different passports made and used them.

Won the elections, but this way the polls were exposed and the legislature was lost.

In the 2017 assembly elections, Abdullah Azam reached the assembly by winning the election from Swar seat. But his happiness could not last long. Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, who was the BSP candidate at that time, raised the issue of Abdullah’s fake documents and PAN card legally. He argued that at the time of filing nomination, Abdullah’s age was less than the legally required 25 years.

It was completely proved in the high level investigation that Abdullah Azam had contested the elections by giving fake proof of age. The result was that the court canceled Abdullah’s election and he had to lose his legislature. BJP leader Akash Saxena also filed a case in Rampur regarding the same matter, after which Abdullah had to go to jail along with his father Azam Khan and mother Tajin Fatima.

Interestingly, despite being in so much controversies, Abdullah once again won from Swar seat in the 2022 assembly elections. However, later he was sentenced to more than three years in prison in another case of obstructing government work, due to which his assembly membership was once again taken away and now the court has further extended his jail term in the fake PAN card case.