Who is Rameez Nemat Khan, the person at the center of the RJD family storm?

Rameez Nemat Khan, a name that was unknown to most people outside Uttar Pradesh until this week, has suddenly become a central figure in the political and family turmoil within the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

After that his name came up Rohini Acharya, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter has dramatically quit politics and publicly distanced herself from her family. In his comment, he mentioned two names, one of them was Rameez Nemat Khan, which brought him into limelight.

Khan, 38, is known in political circles as part of Tejashwi Yadav’s inner team, a long-standing friendship that dates back to their cricketing years.

Born in November 1986, he studied at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road and later completed both BA and MBA from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Cricket was his first choice; He played age-group cricket in Delhi and Jharkhand and even captained the Jharkhand Under-22 team in 2008–09. During these years he developed a close relationship with Tejashwi, which eventually blossomed into political engagement.

According to NDTV, Khan participated in RJD in 2016 and gradually became an important part of Tejashwi’s organizational circle, overseeing social media and campaign operations. Still, his growing role has always been low-profile until now.

Khan’s background is deeply rooted in Uttar Pradesh politics. He is the son-in-law of former Balrampur MP Rizwan Zaheer, a politician who has represented both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, besides contesting elections as an independent.

Khan’s wife Zeba Rizwan has contested the Tulsipur assembly seat twice, but lost both times, once on a Congress ticket and once as an independent while in jail.

As NDTV reported, Khan himself has faced several serious criminal charges over the years. The cases against him range from assault during the Panchayat elections in 2021 to conspiracy to murder former Tulsipur Nagar Panchayat president Firoz Pappu.

He also became an accused in the 2023 murder of contractor Shakeel Khan, whose body was found near the railway track in Kushinagar.

The UP government seized land worth over ₹4.75 crore belonging to him, and he was arrested under the Gangster Act in 2024. He later got bail, and the Supreme Court has since ordered that authorities must seek permission from the local court before taking further action in pending or new cases.