Azam Khan grilled for third day as ED probes Jauhar Trust finances, varsity assets

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Khan was asked to explain the sources of donations received by the trust, the persons who managed its finances and the expenditure incurred on the university campus. During questioning, he shifted responsibility for several financial decisions to his close associates and expressed a lack of knowledge about certain transactions and related details, the sources said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan for the third consecutive day on Sunday, focusing on donations received by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and the utilisation of funds for the development of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.

Investigators are also examining documents recovered during raids on premises linked to Azam Khan’s chartered accountant in Saharanpur. (File)

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Khan was asked to explain the sources of donations received by the trust, the persons who managed its finances and the expenditure incurred on the university campus. During questioning, he shifted responsibility for several financial decisions to his close associates and expressed a lack of knowledge about certain transactions and related details, the sources said.

Investigators are also examining documents recovered during raids on premises linked to Khan’s chartered accountant in Saharanpur. The records are being used to frame questions about the trust’s accounts, financial transactions and utilisation of funds. The alleged roles of Khan’s associates and family members are also under scrutiny, sources said.

The questioning is aimed at establishing who exercised financial control over the trust, founded by Khan, and whether its donations and other receipts were used to create university assets whose funding sources allegedly remain unexplained. The agency is attempting to match the trust’s declared receipts with its expenditure, identify contributors and trace the movement of money through individuals and companies associated with the university.

According to the agency’s assessment, the value of 59 university buildings and 114 land sale deeds works out to ₹499.09 crore, against which legitimate funding of only ₹72.63 crore has been identified. The remaining ₹426.46 crore is being examined as alleged proceeds of crime.

On October 28, the ED attached the university’s land and buildings, whose estimated market value is around ₹1,170 crore. The agency is also investigating the alleged acquisition and occupation of around 34 acres of enemy property, comprising 45 plots in Singankheda village of Rampur.

Khan is being questioned at the ED headquarters in Delhi under a four-day custodial remand granted by a special PMLA court in Ghaziabad. The agency began his interrogation on November 13 and has until 4.30 pm on November 16 to complete the questioning and return him to Dasna district jail in Ghaziabad. On Saturday, he was taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi for a medical examination.

The money-laundering investigation originated from 26 FIRs registered at Azeem Nagar police station in Rampur in July 2019. The complaints alleged that farmers in Singankheda village were threatened, assaulted and unlawfully confined to force them to transfer agricultural land in favour of the university.

The ED arrested Khan on October 31 after questioning him in connection with the case. The agency is also examining nearly 40 cases against him, according to sources.

Investigators are now seeking to corroborate Khan’s responses on donations and financial transactions with documents recovered during searches and the trust’s accounting records.

The allegations are under investigation and have not been established in court.