ED’s ₹1,170-Crore Property Action Sets Stage for Azam Khan’s Detention Outside Rampur Jail

RAMPUR: The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into the financial affairs of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University took a fresh turn on Saturday when Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was taken into custody immediately after his release from Rampur jail.

The move brought the former Uttar Pradesh minister into the centre of a separate money laundering proceeding, even as he had just secured freedom in another case.

The ED team intercepted Khan outside the prison and initiated the process of taking him into formal custody.

An official from the agency’s Lucknow zone said he would be produced before a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Ghaziabad after the necessary legal formalities.

The action follows the agency’s recent decision to attach land and buildings belonging to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. The ED has estimated the current market value of these properties at approximately ₹1,170 crore, making the university’s assets a major focus of its probe.

The institution, located in Jauhar Nagar village in Rampur, is managed by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust. Azam Khan founded the trust and is associated with the university as its honorary chancellor.

The ED is investigating whether resources meant for other purposes were improperly channelled into the construction and development of the campus.

The agency’s financial allegations centre on the alleged use of public money and resources in building the university. In its statement on Wednesday, the ED said it had traced assets worth ₹426.46 crore that it considers suspected proceeds of crime.

It alleged that government funds, building materials and money allegedly received from contractors engaged in public works were diverted towards the institution’s construction.

To arrive at the value of the attached properties, the agency said it examined the cost of the campus and compared the expenditure with funds it considered to have come from legitimate sources.

The attachment and the allegations form part of an ongoing investigation; they do not, by themselves, establish criminal liability.

Khan, meanwhile, accused the authorities of targeting him on religious grounds.

During the proceedings outside the jail, he argued that setting up a university and educational institutions for children had become the reason for action against him, describing the treatment as punishment for being a Muslim.

The operation was conducted under heavy security. Central paramilitary personnel and local police were deployed alongside the ED officials, while a group of Khan’s supporters raised slogans as the agency took him away.

Saturday’s detention came against the backdrop of another legal development involving the politician and his family.

On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court suspended the sentences imposed on Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan in the dual PAN card case and granted them bail.

The relief in that matter, however, did not bring an end to the separate ED investigation.