Azam Khan could be killed in jail: Samajwadi Party MLA makes shocking claim

Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra alleged that he was not allowed to meet senior party leader Azam Khan who is lodged in the district jail in Sitapur.

File photo (Credits: ANI)

Sitapur: Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra on Sunday alleged that he was not allowed to meet senior party leader Azam Khan who is lodged in the district jail here.

Mehrotra also alleged that Khan might be killed inside the Sitapur Jail.

"Jail administration did not allow me to meet Azam Khan and I was told he is unwell and is sleeping," Mehrotra told reporters outside the district jail.

"It seems the state is under a kind of undeclared emergency and the government itself is killing democracy. We have apprehensions that Azam Khan could also be killed in jail.

"So we are agitating here against the injustice meted out to him," the MLA said.

On Friday, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Singh Yadav also met Khan at the district jail.

He accused his nephew Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party of not taking up the jailed SP leader's cause and said he would soon put the matter before Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Recently, the Azam Khan camp too had expressed unhappiness with SP chief Akhilesh, claiming that he has been ignoring the jailed MLA and the Muslim community though it voted for the SP.

Clarifying the party's stand, Mehrotra said, "Akhilesh Yadav himself told us to visit Azam Khan".

Mehrotra said Azam Khan is a senior political leader and is entitled to many facilities but he was made to live like an ordinary criminal in jail.

"He needs medical facilities and it seems the government is denying it. This could be fatal for him," Mehrotra said.

"We will raise the issue of Azam Khan in the assembly and will fight for him. We will give the details to the party's national president Akhilesh Yadav," he added.

Mehrotra alleged that the BJP government is continuously doing injustice on Azam Khan by lodging "false cases" against him.

When asked if Samajwadi Party leaders were late in visiting Khan, he said the party leaders had met Khan twice earlier.

When Khan was admitted in Lucknow for Covid treatment, the SP leaders and the party chief were in continuous touch with him, the MLA claimed.

"Khan has been in jail for over 26 months and the state government is paying no heed, the BJP government is crushing the voice of the opposition and distracting people from core issues," the SP MLA said.

"In 2024, we will bring the non-BJP, non-Congress parties on one platform and form the government to make Akhilesh Yadav the Prime Minister," he added.