Rare books stolen from madrasa recovered from Azam Khan’s university
Rare books stolen from madrasa recovered from Azam Khan’s university
m.u.h
21/09/2022231
The Rampur police on Tuesday recovered rare books and manuscripts stolen from Raza Oriental College (Madrasa Alia) in 2019 from under the lift of a building on the premises of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, run by a trust headed by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.
Raza Oriental College (Madrasa Alia) was established by the Nawab of Rampur in 1774. The recovery was made on the information provided by two aides of the SP leader’s son Abdullah Azam who were arrested earlier, said police.
Raza Oriental College (Madrasa Alia) was established by the Nawab of Rampur in 1774. The recovery was made on the information provided by two aides of the SP leader’s son Abdullah Azam who were arrested earlier, said police.
The police found these books while digging underneath a lift. They also found a cleaning machine of the local corporation buried near the medical college of the university. The machine was reported missing seven years ago, the police added.
“During rigorous interrogation, the two accused revealed that the stolen books were hidden in the lift shaft that was closed by constructing a wall over it. Hundreds of books were found buried in the shaft under the wall. The process of counting the books is still going on,” said ASP (Rampur) Sansar Singh. “We will further apply for the custody remand of the duo as they could help in recovering other stolen items.”
On Sunday, the police arrested SP MLA Abdullah Azam’s aides for their involvement in a gambling racket. During interrogation, they revealed about the books and the cleaning machine.
On July 15, 2019, an FIR was lodged regarding the theft of books by the principal of Raza Oriental College, Zubair Ahmad, stating that then cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan forcibly occupied the college building in 2016, after which 10,633 rare books and manuscripts in the college library went missing, said the police.
The principal alleged that the books were taken to the library in Jauhar Ali University, run by Khan. Later, around 2,500 books were recovered from the Mumtaz library of Jauhar Ali University on July 31, 2019 and four people were arrested.
On Monday, a social activist Waqar Ali Khan lodged a separate FIR against seven people, including the university chancellor and former minister Azam Khan, his son Abdullah Azam, Anwar Hussain, Salim Ali, former municipal council chairman Azhar Khan, Sultan Mohammed Khan and university employee Talib after the recovery of the dismantled road cleaning machine.
In the FIR, he mentioned that the machine was bought by the municipal council during the Samajwadi Party regime before March, 2017 and the former minister, with help of other accused, fraudulently took it away for university work and that it was missing since then.
Khan is the MLA from Rampur while his son Abdullah Azam is MLA from the Swar assembly in Rampur district.