Officials said Azam Khan was questioned about financial irregularities linked to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.
(ANI Video Grab)Officials said Khan was questioned about financial irregularities linked to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, and had also questioned Azam while he was still in jail.
The ED team entered jail premises around 15 minutes before Khan and Abdullah’s scheduled release, they said.
24 CRPF personnel were deployed outside the premises, where hundreds of SP supporters gathered in anticipation of the release.
Speaking to reporters outside the jail, Khan said he was being punished for being a Muslim.
An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team from Lucknow on Saturday took veteran Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan into custody from outside Rampur district jail in connection with a money-laundering probe, moments after he was released alongside his son Abdullah Azam after spending 11 months behind bars after being convicted in the dual PAN card case. Officials said Azam Khan was questioned about financial irregularities linked to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. (ANI Video Grab)
Officials said Khan was questioned about financial irregularities linked to the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, and had also questioned Azam while he was still in jail. The central agency has also attached properties associated with the university as part of its investigation.
The ED team entered jail premises around 15 minutes before Khan and Abdullah’s scheduled release, they said. 24 CRPF personnel were deployed outside the premises, where hundreds of SP supporters gathered in anticipation of the release. Abdullah was allowed to walk free.
“After following the arrest procedures, we will formally arrest him and produce him (Khan) before the Ghaziabad PMLA court on Sunday morning,” said a senior official.
The move came two days after the Allahabad high court quashed the father and son’s sentences in the dual PAN card case and granted bail, despite refusing to stay their sentences.
Speaking to reporters outside the jail, Khan said he was being punished for being a Muslim. “The mistake was that a Muslim built the university, this is the crime; made schools for children, this is the crime,” he said.
Khan’s legal team termed the ED action unconstitutional. Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who represents Khan, is expected to take up the matter in the Supreme Court.
The action against Khan also came against the backdrop of intensifying preparations for the state assembly elections in 2027. Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav met him at the jail on October 22. SP national spokesperson Abbas Haider alleged that the “BJP government,unable to keep Azam Khan Sahib behind bars through its existing cases, appears determined to implicate him in fresh cases through central agencies.”
“Consider the ED’s own figures— out of 8,851 ECIRs registered under PMLA since its inception, trials have been completed in just 60 cases — a mere 0.68%. This raises serious questions about the pace and effectiveness of probes when people are arrested and subjected to prolonged custody while trials remain pending,” he added .
