FIR against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, others in Uttar Pradesh's Jal Nigam recruitment scam

LUCKNOW: An FIR was lodged on Wednesday against senior Samajwadi Party leader and former Urban Development Minister Azam Khan and four others by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged recruitment of 1,300 people to various posts in the Jal Nigam in 2016-17.

Mr Khan was the chairman of the UP Jal Nigam.

The others named in the FIR registered in Lucknow are retired IAS officer and former secretary urban development SP Singh, Afaq Ahmed former OSD to Azam Khan, former MD of UP Jal Nigam and former chief engineer.

The FIR has been lodged under the provision of Anti Corruption Act, fraud and cheating under IPC. Section 409,420,201 and 120 B of the IPC have been charged against the accused.

The SIT in March had sought permission from the state government to file an FIR against Mr Khan and others, including government officials, after completing an inquiry into the recruitment scam.

During the inquiry, SIT found evidence of corruption and that legal procedure was not followed for hiring 1,300 engineers and other staff for different positions in Jal Nigam.

After collecting evidence, the report was submitted to the state government in March seeking direction to lodge FIR against Mr Khan and others and investigate the case.

The Yogi Adityanath government in July last year, had ordered a probe into the recruitment after receiving complaints of corruption in the hirings.

During inquiry, SIT questioned around 80 people, including Azam Khan.

Among 1300 recruitment included 122 assistant engineers and the government terminated their services after its internal inquiry in May last year.

Meanwhile, Mr Khan alleging vendetta by the Yogi Adityanath government said, "I am being punished for giving employment to the unemployed youth and if it's a crime then I am willing to go to jail."

He added, "The court has already given the clean chit but the ruling party leaders have decided to prosecute me."