Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 18: Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan was granted bail on Thursday by the Allahabad High Court in the high-profile Rampur ‘Quality Bar’ land encroachment case. The decision was delivered by Justice Sameer Jain, following a hearing that concluded on August 21.

Khan, currently lodged in jail, had approached the High Court after a Rampur MP-MLA court denied his bail plea on May 17, 2025. The case involves allegations that Khan and others illegally occupied land belonging to the Quality Bar, a well-known establishment located on the highway in Said Nagar Hardoi Patti within Rampur’s Civil Lines police station limits.

The controversy dates back to November 21, 2019, when bar owner Gagan Arora filed a complaint about the alleged encroachment. An FIR was subsequently registered by then-Revenue Inspector Anangraj Singh, naming several individuals including Rampur Municipal Chairman Syed Jafar Ali Jafri, Azam Khan’s wife and former MP Tazeen Fatma, and his son, former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan. During the investigation, Azam Khan was also named as an accused in the case.

The High Court’s ruling comes as the third legal reprieve for Khan within a span of days. On September 10, he was granted bail in the Dungarpur land dispute, and on September 16, a Rampur court acquitted him in a contempt of court case.

Azam Khan, once seen as the Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party and a close confidant of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been embroiled in numerous legal controversies in recent years. His cases span charges of land encroachment, corruption, and other serious allegations. The latest bail order could pave the way for his release in this specific case, though multiple other legal proceedings against him remain pending.