Zee Media Bureau

Lucknow: Prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad has fired a fresh salvo at Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan alleging that the latter was expelled from the Aligarh Muslim University in 1975 for forcibly trying to enter female ward at a hospital.

While addressing the media on Tuesday, Jawwad said that AMU acted on the complaint of the doctors of the medical college hospital and initiated a probe and found Khan guilty. The university then expelled Khan for a year on October 6, 1975 while he was undergoing his LLM programme, he said.

The Shia cleric also presented some documented facts to justify his claims.

Meanwhile, Khan hit out at the Jawwad saying that the Maulana enjoys no support afrom any quarters. Whichever party is

Both Khan and Jawwad have been at loggerheads for quite some time over the Wakf board appointments.

According to a ANI report, the Shia community of Uttar Pradesh urged Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to check the alleged irregularities in Wakf board appointments, which have allegedly been monitored by Urban Development and Wakf Minister Azam Khan. According to the sources, there are differences within Shia Muslims over the Wakf board appointments, which were made after Azam Khan took bribe.

Earlier, Khan attacked Jawwad, alleging that he was using religious platform for political purpose.

"Hussainabad Trust, which includes mosques and mausoleum... this so called religious leader has made them a centre of his politics," Azam alleged in a statement issued in Lucknow. The minister has been attacking Jawwad after the Shia Waqf board elections were postponed following the cleric`s meeting with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on August 3.

One person had died and several others were injured when a protest by members of Shia community headed towards the house of Khan last month.

After `Alvida Namaz`, a procession, led by prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, was taken out here to gherao Azam`s residence, but police put up barricades near Shaheed Smarak to stop them.

Reacting strongly to the police action, Maulana Jawwad said the procession was being taken out peacefully, but "on the directive of Azam, police lathicharged people observing roza (fast) in which several persons, including elderly and children were injured".

The Maulana alleged that the election of Shia Central Waqf Board are scheduled soon and Azam intends to appoint people who intend to loot Waqf properties, to important posts.

Jawwad said Mulayam Singh considered Azam as a big leader of Muslims, but in reality, the debacle the party faced in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections was due to the minister.

He also said that the party would not have won the five seats it got if the election commission had not banned Azam during the polls.