Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 17 (NationPress) In a significant turn of events for Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Khan, an Uttar Pradesh court has sentenced both to seven years in prison for the crime of possessing two PAN cards that list different Dates of Birth (DOB), according to legal sources.

The Special MP-MLA Court in Rampur found Abdullah Khan guilty of acquiring a second PAN card with a falsified date of birth to falsely inflate his age, thereby enabling him to run for office.

Following the court's ruling in a crowded courtroom, the father and son were taken into custody.

The prosecution was successful in demonstrating that Abdullah Khan, a former MLA, engaged in forgery to meet the age requirement for electoral candidacy, implicating Azam Khan in a broader conspiracy.

The prosecution argued that Abdullah was underage and did not meet the minimum age requirement to contest elections. To manipulate his age in official records, he utilized a fraudulent DOB to obtain the second PAN card.

This verdict poses a setback for Azam Khan, who had recently been released from jail in a separate case.

The complaint regarding the dual PAN card incident against Abdullah Khan was lodged in 2019 by local leader Akash Kumar Saxena.

Saxena accused him of fraud, forgery, and criminal conspiracy in his complaint submitted to the Civil Lines Police Station on December 6, 2019.

The allegations stated that one PAN card listed Abdullah’s DOB as January 1, 1993, while the other indicated September 30, 1990.

The complaint asserted that forged documents were utilized to create the PAN cards for electoral and tax filing purposes.

Earlier, on November 6, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea from Abdullah Khan seeking to quash an FIR against him for allegedly using forged documents to secure a passport.

A bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prashant Kumar Mishra upheld the Allahabad High Court's ruling that had refused to annul the FIR, stating: "We are not inclined to interfere. However, we clarify that the trial court is free to resolve all issues without being swayed by the High Court's decision."

During the hearing, Justice Sundresh remarked: "Trust the trial court. Let it be resolved there. Why should we intervene now when the trial is already concluded?"

The Allahabad High Court had previously rejected Abdullah Khan’s plea to dismiss the FIR, noting that the offences of obtaining a forged birth certificate and subsequently using it to acquire a passport were "distinct and separate acts."

Abdullah Khan had previously been convicted in another matter for allegedly securing a false birth certificate using fabricated documents. He contended that since the passport was issued based on the same forged certificate, the subsequent prosecution constituted double jeopardy.