LUCKNOW: A six-member team of officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday grilled senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in Rampur jail in connection with its ongoing money-laundering investigation relating to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.
According to sources, a team from the Enforcement Directorate’s Lucknow zonal office reached Rampur district jail earlier in the day on Tuesday and questioned the Samajwadi Party leader on various aspects of the case, based on evidence collected by the agency during its investigation so far.
The investigation, initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from 27 FIRs registered in Rampur involving charges including cheating, forgery, extortion and criminal conspiracy. The ED is probing allegations that the university, through its chancellor, Azam Khan, and others, illegally acquired farmers’ land and enemy property. The agency is also tracing the alleged proceeds of crime and their utilisation in creating university assets.
The questioning continued till late in the evening in the barrack where the SP stalwart and former MP was lodged, said the sources. The federal agency recorded Azam Khan’s statement as part of its probe into the alleged diversion of government contract funds through private contractors and their subsequent utilisation, including for the creation of assets of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.
The questioning of Azam Khan comes almost two-and-a-half months after the ED conducted searches at 10 premises linked to the former SP MP in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in connection with the case under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The search operation was launched on August 19 this year, covering premises in Rampur and Saharanpur, as well as Delhi. The premises searched included the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, both linked to the jailed leader.
Founded by Azam Khan in 2006, Mohammad Ali Jauhar University is a private educational institution in Rampur. The ED said its investigation had so far revealed “financial transactions between certain contractors and the trust”, with contractors allegedly benefiting from government contracts diverting funds towards the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, including substantial donations and construction work during the period when Azam Khan was Urban Development Minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government between 2012 and 2017.
Significantly, the ED is probing the case to trace the proceeds of crime, financial records, documents and digital evidence related to the alleged diversion and utilisation of government funds by the SP leader.
It may be recalled that Azam Khan was sentenced to a two-year jail term in a case related to his alleged objectionable remarks against government officials, including the then DM of Rampur, during the election campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Azam Khan has been a 10-time MLA from Rampur Sadar, a former Cabinet Minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government and a Member of Parliament from Rampur before being booked in a plethora of cases and subsequently convicted in some of them. A prominent Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party, he has been languishing in Rampur jail since November last year following his conviction in a forgery case.
