Governor dials CM after Cong man says Azam out to kill him

Rampur district leader claims cops shot at him at Azam Khan’s behest.

A Congress leader, who had helped a Bareilly youth get bail after his arrest for posting comments on Facebook against UP minister Azam Khan, Friday claimed that a police team led by a circle officer raided his factory in Rampur and fired a shot at him.

Taking a strong note of the incident that took place at Congress leader Faisal Khan’s factory late on Thursday night, Governor Ram Naik Friday called up Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asking him to look into the matter and ensure action.

Earier, Faisal had met Naik on March 24 and sought security alleging that he faces life threat from Azam Khan in Rampur.

According to Faisal, general secretary of Congress’s district unit in Rampur, Circle Officer (City) Aley Hasan Khan reached his interlocking tiles factory located at Bareilly gate locality Thursday after 11 pm and allegedly misbehaved with him. He alleged that the CO even fired at him from a rifle but missed.

“He was accompanied by 25-30 policemen and threatened to kill me. Luckily some people gathered there and I was rescued. They looted Rs 50,000 and a large quantity of tiles from the factory,” Faisal alleged. He also handed over a complaint against the CO regarding the alleged incident to SP, Rampur, Sadhna Goswami. “I have sent a letter to Governor Ram Naik regarding last night’s attack and he has taken up the matter with the government,” Faisal added.

The Governor said Faisal had met him recently. “He had some problems so came to me. Another incident has occurred. I have asked CM to look into the matter,” Naik told The Indian Express.

“I have not asked for any report. Since Akhilesh Yadav is also the home minister, he should take cognizance of the incident and should see why such incidents are happening,” Naik added.

After receiving governor’s call, CM Akhilesh Yadav reportedly issued instructions to DGP A K Jain for looking into the matter.

Meanwhile, UP Congress president Nirmal Khatri charged that Rampur police was acting against Faisal at the behest of “a powerful Cabinet minister”.

“It is all due to Azam Khan on whose instructions police is trying to kill me. They had made such an attempt in the past too in which I got an FIR lodged against the CO and three other policemen following court’s intervention. Now, they want to settle the score,” Faisal told The India Express.

The police admitted visiting the factory but ,denied the allegations of harassment. Additional SP Ashok Kumar Verma, who is officiating SP, defended CO Aley Hasan.

“It was a routine inspection for quality control. The police was accompanied by several other officials to check the quality of tiles at the factory. The CO is being blamed for personal reasons,” Verma claimed.

Source:: Indian Express