The Allahabad High Court granted bail to Azam Khan and Abdullah Azam Khan while suspending their sentences. The refusal to stay their convictions leaves their legal challenge unresolved.Stock photo used for illustrationPrayagraj,Oct 29, 2026 20:06 ISTThe Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his son, Mohd Abdullah Azam Khan, in the alleged fake passport and dual PAN card case, news agency Press Trust of India reported.The court suspended the sentences of the former Uttar Pradesh minister and his son, a former legislator, but refused to stay their convictions.
Following the bail order, the father and son are likely to be released from jail.Justice Samit Gopal passed the order while allowing their applications seeking suspension of sentence. The court had reserved its judgment on October 15 after hearing senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and NI Jafri, along with advocate Shashwat Anand, who represented Azam Khan and Abdullah Khan.Senior advocate Anoop Trivedi and advocate Paritosh Kumar Malviya represented the state.
Azam Khan and Abdullah Khan have filed criminal revision petitions in the high court challenging their convictions and sentences in the alleged dual PAN card case.In November last year, an additional chief judicial magistrate in Rampur found them guilty of forgery, cheating, using forged documents and criminal conspiracy. The case arose from an FIR lodged in 2019 by BJP leader Akash Saxena, now an MLA.
He alleged that Abdullah Khan had two PAN cards with different dates of birth and used them to gain undue benefits.According to the prosecution, Abdullah Khan first obtained a PAN card from the Income Tax Department that recorded his date of birth as January 1, 1993. The date matched the one in his school and high school certificates.
The PAN card was also used to operate a bank account and file income tax returns, PTI reported.The prosecution alleged that Abdullah Khan altered his bank passbook and changed the PAN details to contest the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. It claimed that he submitted a forged copy of the passbook with his nomination papers.The second PAN card recorded his date of birth as September 30, 1990.
The prosecution alleged that the change was made to show that he met the minimum age requirement of 25 years for contesting the election. It argued that Abdullah Khan acted in conspiracy with his father, Azam Khan.The prosecution also claimed that the bank account mentioned in the nomination papers was neither linked to nor operated through the second PAN card.The high court has, therefore, granted bail and suspended the sentences of Azam Khan and Abdullah Khan while declining to stay their convictions in the case.- Ends