Political rivals targeting me as I’m Muslim: Congress MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan
Bengaluru: Irked by media reports about his alleged involvement in a high-profile drugs racket involving Sandalwood actors, Congress MLA and former Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan on Friday asserted that he was being targeted by his political opponents since he is a Muslim.
Khan is the owner of a private bus firm National Travels and has several other business interests spread across Mumbai and other regions in the country.
Throwing down the gauntlet at his opponents, Khan declared that if the police found even one piece of evidence against him in the drug racket, he would give all his property to the government and surrender to the police.
“I vow to cooperate with the police in this case,” he said while speaking to reporters after a meeting with Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah.
Of late, a section of the media had been writing about Khan’s alleged close associate Fazil Khan, who is said to run a casino business in Sri Lanka.
The Congress MLA maintained that neither did he know much about Fazil Khan nor about his business interests in Sri Lanka. “I do not know what all businesses Fazil is involved in, here or elsewhere. I am not his business partner. I met him four years ago and my last telephonic conversation with him too happened around the same time. So, I am ready to cooperate with any agency that will investigate this case,” he said.
He claimed that he had never met Sandalwood actress Sanjjanaa Galrani who was arrested in the case. “Why will I go to a casino? This is a conspiracy hatched against me by my political opponents. I am being targeted solely because of my religion,” he claimed.
The former Minister said he had not met Galrani in Bengaluru or in Sri Lanka. “Why will I go to Sri Lanka to meet her or at the airport? I have not even seen her in my life. So, how does the question about me meeting her in Sri Lanka or elsewhere arise?” Khan questioned angrily.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that the state government had given a free hand to police to investigate drug-related cases. “We will not succumb to any pressure, be it political or otherwise,” he reiterated.
It was reliably learnt that the Congress leadership was worried about Khan’s name cropping up in several cases in the last one year — multi-billion rupee ponzi scheme, DJ Halli riot case, and now a drugs case involving Sandalwood actors.
Earlier in the day, Khan met his mentor Siddaramaiah, who reportedly asked him to come clean in this case.