No relief for Azam Khan as Supreme Court sends arrest plea to Allahabad HC

Millat Times Desk

05 November 2026 (Publish: 09:39 AM IST)

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The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to grant immediate relief to former Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Mohd. Azam Khan in his challenge to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) arrest, allegedly made just 40 minutes after his release from jail on October 29 in the dual PAN card case. The court transferred his petition to the Allahabad High Court for hearing.

The Supreme Court on Thursday (November 5) transferred his petition to the Allahabad High Court, asking it to hear the matter.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed that the case records be transferred to the High Court within two days. The Registrar General was asked to place the matter before the Chief Justice for listing before a division bench on November 16.

Without commenting on the merits of the case, the Supreme Court said that Azam Khan should approach the High Court. It also allowed him to amend his petition and submit additional documents.

Appearing for Khan, senior advocate Kapil Sibal described the ED arrest as “pure persecution”, arguing that his client was taken into custody despite having secured relief in all other cases.

“I will fight everything but I want bail. I am 80 years old. They arrested me in ED case, and in 28 cases more, so I will die in jail,” Sibal told the court.

Sibal alleged that the arrest was mala fide and intended to keep Khan behind bars during the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He said the ED took Khan into custody immediately after he walked out of jail following his release on bail.

Questioning the basis of the ED case, Sibal pointed out that the alleged incident dated back to 2006, while the FIR was registered in 2019. “Incident is of 2006; the FIR filed in 2019. How does PMLA come in?” he asked.

Sibal also questioned the allegations cited in the case, which reportedly included claims of forced entry into houses, demolition of properties and the looting of cash, gold earrings and livestock.

“Goats and cows become the proceeds of crime…what is all this going on?” he remarked while challenging the basis of the proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Responding to the submissions, CJI Surya Kant observed, “Your argument may have some substance, but we don’t want to express any opinion.”

Azam Khan’s petition seeks the cancellation of his ED arrest and the subsequent judicial custody remand order. He has also challenged the November 1 order passed by the special court that sent him to judicial custody and sought interim release.

The ED investigation originates from a dual PAN card forgery case involving Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam Khan.

In November last year, a Rampur court convicted both of them under Sections 467, 468, 420, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for forgery, cheating, using forged documents and criminal conspiracy.

The case began with a 2019 FIR filed by BJP leader Akash Saxena, who is now an MLA. He alleged that Abdullah had obtained two PAN cards carrying different dates of birth and used them to gain an unfair advantage.

According to the prosecution, Abdullah initially obtained a PAN card showing his date of birth as January 1, 1993, matching his school and High School certificates. The card was allegedly used to operate a bank account and file income tax returns.

However, the prosecution alleged that Abdullah later changed his PAN details and bank passbook to show September 30, 1990, as his date of birth. The alleged changes were made to establish his eligibility to contest the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, for which the minimum age requirement was 25 years.

The prosecution further alleged that Azam Khan conspired with his son in the alleged forgery.

On October 29, the Allahabad High Court suspended the seven-year prison sentences awarded to Azam Khan and Abdullah in the dual PAN card case.

However, Khan’s release was short-lived, as the ED arrested him in another case shortly after he walked out of jail.