Sedition case against Azam: Court trashes closure report

A local court has rejected the final report filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police in a case of sedition against state minister Azam Khan and ordered further probe into the matter.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Arvind Kumar rejected the report yesterday saying it was "found to be untrue" and directed the Kotwali police station in-charge to conduct further probe.
It has been alleged that Azam, during his visit to Budaun to take part in an agitation on December 21, 2010, had said that Ghulam Nabi Azad was the lone Muslim minister in Manmohan Singh government and he was from Kashmir, "about which it was not clear whether it was a part of India or Pakistan."

Following a court order, police lodged an FIR against Khan and booked him on the charge of sedition.
Bajrang Dal leader Ujjwal Gupta had approached the court on the issue.
According to court sources, the police had given a clean chit to Khan and filed a final report in the case, but Gupta on January 8 moved an application in the court requesting for its rejection.
Gupta today claimed that the police in its report had stated that the case was "politically motivated" and the original copy of the CD containing Khan's statement was not provided by him.
He contested that the statement was recorded by the media and the police should obtain the original copy of the CD from it.