I-T searches at locations linked to Azam Khan, aides continue for third day
Officials roped in jewellery valuers and construction experts to assess the value of the valuables recovered and 58 structures at the Jauhar University
MEERUT The income tax department’s searches at the Rampur residence of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and other locations linked to him and his aides continued for the third day on Friday.
The department on Wednesday conducted searches at over 36 locations linked to Khan and his aides across the country as part of its tax evasion probe against them. These places included Khan’s house in Rampur, ‘Humsafar’ resort, Mohammad Ali Jauhar University and his aide and Chamraua MLA Naseer Ahmad Khan’s residence in Rampur. The searches continued on Friday.
I-T officials roped in jewellery valuers and construction experts to assess the value of the jewellery recovered and 58 structures at the Jauhar University. A team also visited the main branch of a bank to check accounts of Khan’s family members and the Jauhar Trust, of which Khan is lifetime chairman.
Sleuths said ₹83.96 lakh cash was recovered from these premises, of which ₹16.90 lakh was seized. Similarly, jewellery worth ₹2.04 crore was recovered, of which valuables worth ₹38.30 lakh were seized.
Experts valued 58 structures of Jauhar University worth ₹418.37 crore. I-T officials were ascertaining how much money was received and utilised on the construction of these structures.
Azam Khan’s family also owns Rampur Public School. During 2021-22, it earned ₹3.51 crore from fees while the Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Trust received ₹4.96 crore during the same period.
Officials found anomalies in deduction of TDS on the earnings and were examining these to come to a final conclusion.
It also came to fore that the Jauhar Trust donated equipment worth ₹7.42 crore to Global University in Saharanpur whose owner was former BSP MLC Haji Iqbal. The district administration of Saharanpur had booked him in several cases and he had been declared a fugitive.
Searches at the house of a retired engineer of Jal Nigam in Meerut and at the office of Azam Khan’s former chartered accountant in Saharanpur were completed on Thursday. I-T officials also searched the house of Khan’s close aide Sarfaraz in Saharanpur.
On Friday night, I-T sleuths concluded their work at Azam Khan’s residence and left the premises, confirmed an officer.
An MP-MLA court in Rampur had convicted Khan last year in a hate speech case and sentenced him to three years in prison. Following the sentencing, the former minister was disqualified as the Rampur MLA. He was later acquitted by a higher court but his disqualification was not revoked due to his conviction in a separate case.
