The Income Tax Department Wednesday morning conducted raids on several premises of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan across Uttar Pradesh in connection with the Al Jauhar Trust. Several teams of IT department officials reached Lucknow, Rampur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Sitapur to raid multiple premises linked to the Samajwadi Party leader.

The Al Jauhar Trust case pertains to a UP government lease for a 3.24 acre land in Rampur. In 2013-14, the 30-year lease was given to the trust to set up a research institute for just Rs 100 per year. However, the research institute was never built and the Yogi Adityanath government cancelled the lease on allegations of irregularities early this year.

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#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh | Income Tax department is conducting searches at multiple premises linked to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan.

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Searches are underway in cities including Rampur, Meerut, Lucknow and Ghaziabad.

Visuals from Rampur. //t.co/OPBE664aCb”>pic.twitter.com/OPBE664aCb

— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2023

Interestingly, the raids on Samajwadi leader has come on a day when Opposition’s INDIA bloc coordination committee is meeting in Delhi to decide on seat sharing and joint campaign rallies. From Samajwadi Party, its Rajya Sabha MP Javed Ali Khan will attend the meeting.

Another Opposition party leader Abhishek Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress has also been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear before its officials today. Banerjee, who is a TMC member of the INDIA bloc’s coordination committee, will not attend today’s meeting.

The Opposition has called it a “witch hunt” and the issue is likely to be raised during the meeting.