MEERUT, Dec. 6 -- The special MP/MLA court in Rampur on Friday held Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan's son, Abdullah Azam Khan, guilty in the 2019 fake passport case and sentenced him to seven years in prison -- his third major conviction linked to the alleged falsification of birth-related documents. The court also imposed a fine of Rs.50,000. Abdullah, currently lodged in Rampur jail, appeared for the proceedings through video conferencing, and the court announced the sentence just an hour after convicting him. This conviction adds to Abdullah's growing list of legal setbacks. Eighteen days ago, both Azam Khan and Abdullah were sentenced to seven years each in a fake PAN card case. The father-son duo has been in Rampur jail since November 17. Earlier in 2023, the entire family -- Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima, and Abdullah -- was sentenced to seven years in a birth certificate forgery case. Azam, who had walked out on bail on September 23 after spending 23 months in jail, was sent back behind bars merely 55 days later following another conviction. According to additional district government counsel (ADGC) Sandeep Saxena, the case involved multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery with intent to cheat), and 471 (using a forged document). The court held that Abdullah obtained and used multiple passports based on forged documents, thereby committing "repeated acts of fraud". The time he has already spent in custody will be counted towards the newly awarded sentence, the ADGC said. Abdullah's counsel, advocate Nasir Sultan, said the verdict will be challenged in a higher court. "We have not yet received the certified copy of the court order. Once we examine it thoroughly, we will certainly take the matter before the higher judiciary," he said. The fake passport case dates back to 2019, when BJP leader Akash Saxena, now the MLA from Rampur, filed an FIR at the Civil Lines police station alleging that Abdullah had fraudulently obtained two passports using forged documents. While one passport listed his date of birth as January 1, 1993, consistent with his educational records, the second mentioned 1990, which investigators concluded was fabricated. During the trial, Abdullah, along with his parents, had been taken into custody. Despite these legal troubles, Abdullah won the Suar assembly seat in the 2022 elections. However, a subsequent conviction in an unrelated case involving obstruction of government work -- carrying a sentence of over three years -- led to his disqualification from the assembly. The political rivalry between the Azam Khan family and BJP's Akash Saxena has played out across multiple courtrooms. After Azam's 2022 disqualification, a by-election was held for the Rampur City seat. On December 7, 2022, Akash Saxena won the election, defeating SP's Asim Raza by 25,703 votes. Earlier, Saxena had contested against Azam in the 2022 Assembly elections but lost. Saxena is a direct litigant against Azam Khan in 43 different cases so far. A businessman by profession, he is the son of former state minister Shiv Bahadur Saxena....