Who is Rameez Khan? Little-known Tejashwi Yadav's aide named by Rohini Acharya in Lalu Yadav family rift

Lalu Yadav with daughter Rohini Acharya (Left) and Rameez Khan (Right)

Rohini Acharya’s decision to quit politics and cut ties with her own family has pushed an unfamiliar name into the spotlight: Rameez Nemat Khan. A day after the RJD was reduced to 25 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly, Acharya told reporters she was stepping away because “this is what Sanjay Yadav had asked me to do.” She also mentioned another figure  -- someone not widely known in Bihar’s political circles until now -- Rameez Nemat Khan.

According to party insiders, Khan has long been part of Tejashwi Yadav’s inner circle, reported NDTV. The two met as young cricketers, playing across age-group teams in Delhi and Jharkhand. Khan even captained the Jharkhand Under-22 side during the 2008-09 season, a period when their friendship deepened. That connection eventually pulled him into politics, and by 2016 he had formally joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Since then, RJD members say Khan has been quietly managing crucial parts of Tejashwi’s political machinery, including social media operations and campaign-related teams.

Khan’s background, however, stretches far beyond the world of cricket. Born in November 1986, he studied at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, before completing his BA and MBA from Jamia Millia Islamia, where his father, Nematullah Khan, is a professor. He hails from Uttar Pradesh with his political ties intertwined with a prominent family from Balrampur -- now Shravasti -- through his marriage to Zeba Rizwan.

Zeba is the daughter of Rizwan Zaheer, a former MP who once became the youngest MLA in Uttar Pradesh. Zaheer represented the Balrampur constituency twice as a Samajwadi Party candidate and also served under Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). At one point he even contested independently. Zeba herself tried her luck in elections twice from the Tulsipur seat, once on a Congress ticket and another time as an independent while she was in jail, but could not secure a victory.

Controversies around Khan began to surface during the 2021 district panchayat polls in Tulsipur. A complaint accused him of attacking Congress leader Deepankar Singh and his associates during a bout of violence. The following year, Khan, along with his wife, father-in-law and three others, was arrested in a conspiracy case related to the murder of Firoz Pappu, the former Tulsipur Nagar panchayat president. Over time he secured bail in several matters, though a number of cases continue to remain open.  Nine cases against him have been reportedly recorded in Balrampur and two more in Kaushambi.

His legal troubles intensified in 2023 when he was named in another murder -- that of Pratapgarh contractor Shakeel Khan, whose body was found near railway tracks in Kushinagar. The allegation was based on a complaint filed by the contractor’s wife. That same year, land valued at roughly Rs 4.75 crore and registered under his name was seized by the Uttar Pradesh government.

He was later booked under the Gangsters Act in July 2024. Although he obtained bail in April this year, he and his wife approached the Supreme Court soon after. The Court instructed officials that any further arrest or new proceedings would require prior permission from the local court. Since that directive, the couple has received relief in multiple cases, and no fresh charges have been lodged.