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ED gets four-day custody of Azam Khan in ₹426.46-crore money-laundering case
“We have been granted four-day custodial remand of Azam Khan. We are discussing the logistics with our senior officials regarding whether to bring him to Lucknow for questioning. A final decision on this is yet to be taken,” a senior ED official said.
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Lucknow zonal office, has secured four days’ custodial remand of Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan in a money-laundering case linked to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.
The remand, granted by the special judge (PMLA), Court No. 1, Ghaziabad, will begin from 4.30 pm on November 12 and end on 4.30 pm on November 16.
“We have been granted four-day custodial remand of Azam Khan. We are discussing the logistics with our senior officials regarding whether to bring him to Lucknow for questioning. A final decision on this is yet to be taken,” a senior ED official said.
While allowing the ED’s application, the court observed that statutory requirements under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had been prima facie fulfilled. It said custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the extensive money trail and establish the role of multiple entities and shell structures.
The court referred to an alleged financial scam involving diversion of public funds and assets worth ₹426.46 crore. It also cited Khan’s allegedly evasive responses during earlier statements and rejected the defence objections to custodial interrogation.
The court directed that Khan, currently lodged in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad, undergo medical examinations before entering ED custody and before being produced at the end of the remand. It prohibited physical or mental torture and allowed an advocate of his choice to meet him for one hour daily. His health must be examined every 48 hours, and the investigating officer must produce him before the court after the remand expires.
The ED’s 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 their agricultural land in favour of the university.
The probe subsequently expanded to alleged diversion of government funds and construction material to the university, owned by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust founded by Khan.
According to the ED, a company awarded Public Works Department contracts worth around ₹186 crore allegedly diverted 30-40% of the contract amount towards purchasing construction material for the university. The agency also flagged ₹6.60 crore spent on campus development through MLA/MLC local area development funds and another ₹23.41 crore sanctioned for a pandal, an OBC boys’ hostel and a hospital block.
The agency also investigated the alleged illegal occupation of around 34 acres of enemy property comprising 45 plots in Singankheda village.
On October 28, the ED attached the university’s land and buildings, identifying ₹426.46 crore as alleged proceeds of crime. The properties have an estimated market value of around ₹1,170 crore. The agency assessed the cost of 59 buildings and 114 land sale deeds at ₹499.09 crore but could establish legitimate funding of only ₹72.63 crore.
Khan was arrested by the ED on October 31. He was subsequently sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by the special PMLA court. The allegations are under investigation and have not been established as guilt by a court.
