The police recovered over 10,000 "stolen" books from the library of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, run by a trust headed by Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Azam Khan, according to a Times of India report.
The books were purportedly stolen from the 200-year-old Madrasa Alia, which belonged to the family of the nawab of Rampur.
Rampur police told the publication that these books were "taken away" from the institution in 2016 allegedly under the instructions of then Cabinet minister Azam Khan. "In 2016, a total of 10,633 books were stolen from Madrasa Alia," said Additional SP Sansaar Singh. "An FIR was registered in 2019 and seven people were arrested with 2,500 books. However, the remaining books couldn't be recovered at that time. On Monday, after getting information from the accused Mohammed Anwar and Mohammed Saalim, we managed to recover almost all the remaining books. We are reapplying for police custody of both the accused."
The police conducted the raids based on information provided by Anwar and Saalim who are the friends of Azam Khan's son, SP MLA Abdullah Azam. Based on a viral video, Anwar and Saalim were arrested three days ago and were accused of gambling.
The police demolished the wall of the library to recover the books.