Big blow to Azam Khan, ED attaches Jauhar University's assets worth Rs 1170 crore

New Delhi: Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Mohammad Azam Khan has suffered a major setback. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has temporarily attached land and buildings belonging to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, linked to Azam Khan, in connection with a money laundering case. The land is estimated to be worth approximately ₹1,170 crore (approximately $1.7 billion).

The Lucknow zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated in a statement on Wednesday that the agency has provisionally attached land and buildings belonging to Jauhar University, which is linked to Azam Khan. The attached properties are valued at ₹426.46 crore (4.26 billion rupees), though their current market value is estimated to be around ₹1,170 crore (1.17 billion rupees). This action was taken as part of an ongoing investigation against the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, former cabinet minister Azam Khan, and others.

Azam is the honorary chancellor of the university

The university campus, located in Singhankheda village, Jauhar Nagar, Rampur, is owned by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, founded and controlled by Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan. He is also the honorary chancellor of the university. Earlier, on October 13, the Enforcement Directorate filed a new FIR against jailed Azam Khan and his educational trust. He is accused of misappropriating crores of rupees of government funds to build his university and committing various financial "irregularities."

FIR against Azam and several others

The Uttar Pradesh police filed an FIR in Rampur, naming Azam Khan, the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, two private entities, and others. They were charged under sections 61 (criminal conspiracy), 316(5) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating) of the IPC, and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. More than 25 FIRs have already been filed against Azam Khan and those associated with him. It was then that it was suspected that the Enforcement Directorate had decided to consolidate all the FIRs filed against him into one, in order to launch a major crackdown against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

As part of this investigation, the Lucknow zonal office of the ED sent an email to the Uttar Pradesh DGP on October 10, sharing the “evidence” and information gathered against Azam Khan and requesting the registration of a fresh FIR against him under Section 66(2) of the PMLA. Azam Khan is the primary trustee of this Lucknow-based trust. He is joined by some of his family members and associates. The trust runs the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University (established in 2006) and a public school in Rampur.