FIR against Azam Khan over 'defamatory remarks' against Ambedkar
Lucknow/Badaun, Oct 24: The police have registered the second FIR in a week against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, this time for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Dalit icon B R Ambedkar two years ago.
The FIR was registered on a complaint by Ambedkar Mahasabha general secretary Amarnath Prajapati at Lucknow's Hazratganj police station Tuesday, police said.
Khan reacted that the ruling BJP was using his name to fight elections. "I am the item girl of the BJP," he said.
Prajapati alleged that during the inauguration of Haj House in Ghaziabad in 2016 Khan made an objectionable statement against Ambedkar, terming him someone who "grabs land".
"All over the state, there are statues of a person whose finger seems to say that it owns not only the plot in which it stands but also the plot towards which it is pointing," the SP leader allegedly said.
Earlier, on October 17, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh lodged an FIR against the controversial SP leader at the Gomti Nagar police station for allegedly threatening his daughters with acid attack.
Singh claimed Khan made the threat against him and his 17-year-old twins during an interview to a television channel.
Commenting on the latest FIR, Khan suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the government in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre, was playing politics.
"I am the item girl of the BJP. They contest all the elections on my name. The last assembly election was fought on my name and the same is the case with the coming Lok Sabha elections," he said in Badaun.
The present state of affairs is such that I do not remember how many cases have been filed against me and where, he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Badaun.
I keep getting summons and warrants," he said. Khan said he has no property in his name and only one bank account.
Visiting Badaun district to attend a function organised by a Muslim organisation, Khan urged bringing the Dalits, the backwards and the deprived together to defeat communal forces.
He mocked the BJP over the issue of construction of a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site. 'Do whatever you want but don't misguide the country," he said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
