NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan‘s plea seeking bail in a fresh Enforcement Directorate (ED) case, transferring the matter to the Allahabad high court and asking the Chief Justice to list it before a division bench on November 16.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed Khan to approach the Allahabad high court.Khan, a 10-time MLA and former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister, had moved the Supreme Court against his arrest by the ED on October 31, shortly after securing bail in the last of the 95 cases registered against him since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.Appearing for Khan, advocate Mohd Nizamuddin Pasha argued that the arrest in a 2019 case relating to alleged irregularities in land purchases for Jauhar University was illegal. He pointed out that the FIR was registered 13 years after the alleged transactions involving farmers.In his petition, the 78-year-old leader alleged that the timing and circumstances of his arrest reflected a “blatant illegality” and a “gross abuse of process”, claiming that criminal justice machinery was being used for political ends to keep an opposition leader behind bars ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.Khan also sought interim bail by invoking the Supreme Court’s powers under Article 142, citing his prolonged incarceration and deteriorating health.He claimed that he had been named in 95 criminal cases since 2017, including the ED case. While he has been acquitted in six cases and three others were closed, he has been convicted in six. The remaining 80 cases are pending trial.
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“The clear pattern that emerges is that whenever the Petitioner is about to be released, a fresh case is registered or revived, and he is sought to be kept behind bars,” he alleged.Khan further claimed that he was arrested from the gate of Rampur district jail without being provided an arrest memo or written grounds for his arrest. He said he had already been questioned by the ED in connection with the case while in custody and alleged that the arrest was politically motivated.
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