Abdullah Azam Penalized: Rs 3.71 Crore Fine in Stamp Theft Case Ordered by Court
Rampur (The Uttam Hindu): The troubles of Samajwadi Party senior leader and national general secretary Mohammad Azam Khan's son and former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan are not coming to an end. The DM court has imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore 71 lakh 878 on him in the stamp theft case.
According to the information, Abdullah Azam had bought land in Ghatampur and Madiya Nadar Bagh of Sadar Tehsil area in 2022. During this time he got the deed done on different dates. It is alleged that while getting the deed done, Abdullah evaded stamp duty of more than Rs 1 crore 78 lakh by showing residential land as agricultural land.
After the matter came to light, its investigation was handed over to SDM Sadar. When stamp theft of more than Rs 1 crore was found in the investigation, a case was filed against him in the DM court. In February 2024, the DM court took cognizance of all three files and issued a notice.
Both the parties were heard in the court and after the arguments were completed a few days ago, the District Magistrate Court gave its verdict today. The court imposed double the fine on stamp evasion of Rs 1 crore 78 lakh. Also, interest at the rate of 1.5 percent per month will have to be paid for late payment of the fine.
District Government Advocate Prem Kishore Pandey said that Abdullah Azam had got four deeds done at different places. One deed was done at Madiya Nadar Bagh, the verdict of which has already come. The remaining three deeds were done at Benazir Pur Ghatampur, the verdict of which came today.
During investigation, stamp theft was detected in all the four deeds. In the first deed, stamp theft of about Rs 9 lakh 22 thousand was found, while in the three deeds of Ghatampur, a fine of Rs 1 crore 1 lakh was imposed on one and Rs 33 lakh 80 thousand on two. In all, a fine of around Rs 3 crore 71 lakh has been imposed in all the four cases. One month's time has been given to deposit it.
There has been no reaction from Abdullah Azam on this decision yet, but this case can pose new challenges for him legally and politically.
