Azam Khan is the Samajwadi Party lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh's Rampur.

In a move that has been speculated for a few days now, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has listed the name of senior Samajwadi Party leader and Lok Sabha member Azam Khan on a state-wide list of land mafia suspects, or those who have cases of land grab registered against them. This list is part of a newly-established anti-land mafia portal in the state and is available online on the Uttar Pradesh government's website.

Mr Khan, who won a bitterly-fought Lok Sabha election against the BJP's Jaya Prada in May from west UP's Rampur, has been accused by 26 farmers of taking control of their land by force in the last 13 years, particularly when he was a minister in Akhilesh Yadav's state government between 2012 and 2017. The land was part of a university project spearheaded by Mr Khan and his associates in the west UP town.

The Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, established in 2006, has since expanded to an area of a massive 350 acres of land and now offers 24 different specialisations. The police in Rampur registered a case against Mr Khan and a former police officer known to be close to the leader a few days ago. The FIR in the case alleges that Mr Khan and his aide allegedly forged documents and grabbed land from 26 farmers worth over several hundred crores for the university.

"If somebody has acquired somebody's land in an illegal manner and if the FIR has been registered then the name of the person who has illegally acquired the land gets registered in this anti-land mafia portal. It is a very normal procedure for us. This means their cases would be monitored at the top level," said Aunanjeya Kumar Singh, Rampur's top government officer.

Mr Khan has denied the allegations and said this is a conspiracy against him. "All this is happening because I won the election from here despite the entire government machinery working against me. I am not scared," the Samajwadi Party leader told NDTV.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has also supported Azam Khan, constituting a 21-member committee, led by leader of opposition in the Legislative Council Ahmad Hasan, to probe "fake cases" registered against Mr Khan.