Ghaziabad: A Special Court in Ghaziabad sent Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan to ED custody for four days in the Rs 426 crore money laundering case linked to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.
He is likely to be brought to Lucknow from Dasna jail on Friday by the central agency for questioning, an official said.
Earlier on November 5, the Supreme Court declined to grant immediate relief to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan in his plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case and asked him to approach the Allahabad High Court.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the apex court registry to transfer all records about the matter to the High Court for listing the petition before an appropriate Division Bench on November 16.
Azam Khan had approached the Supreme Court challenging his arrest by the ED, allegedly effected around 40 minutes after he walked out of jail on October 31 following the grant of bail in the dual PAN card case.
The plea sought quashing of the ED’s arrest as well as the subsequent order dated November 1 passed by the Special Court in Ghaziabad remanding him to judicial custody. It also sought his release as an interim measure.
The ED arrested Khan in connection with the money laundering investigation linked to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur. He was subsequently remanded to judicial custody until November 13 by the Ghaziabad MP-MLA Court and lodged in Dasna jail.
The investigation stems from FIRs alleging the forcible acquisition of agricultural land belonging to farmers for the university.
The ED has also claimed that government funds and resources were diverted towards the development of the institution.
The federal financial agency had provisionally attached land and buildings of the university worth Rs 426.46 crore, claiming that these represented alleged proceeds of crime in the case. The varsity is owned by the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, founded and controlled by Khan, who also serves as its honorary Chancellor.
(IANS)
