The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached land and buildings of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, with an assessed value of Rs 426.46 crore in a money laundering case involving jailed Samajwadi Party leader and former state minister Azam Khan and the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust.
The attached properties have an estimated current market value of around Rs 1,170 crore, the agency said. The university was established by the trust founded by Azam Khan.
According to the ED, its investigation began following 26 FIRs registered at Azeem Nagar police station in Rampur, alleging that agricultural land belonging to farmers had been forcibly taken over for the university.
The agency said an inquiry by the Rampur district administration also found that 45 plots of enemy property, measuring around 34 acres in Singhankhera village, had been illegally occupied for the university despite the cancellation of the land's lease to the trust. The property has since been taken back by the Custodian of Enemy Property through the district administration.
The ED alleged that funds meant for public works were diverted to the university, government projects were executed on its private campus, and contractors who received government contracts channelled money back to the trust as donations.
The agency said a company whose managing director was questioned had received Public Works Department contracts worth around Rs 186 crore. Its managing director allegedly admitted that 30 to 40 per cent of the contract value was used to purchase construction material for the university. The ED also cited another firm that allegedly donated Rs 40 lakh to the trust.
The investigation further found that Rs 23.41 crore was sanctioned by the Uttar Pradesh government for a pandal, an Other Backward Classes boys' hostel and a hospital block on the university's private campus. The agency alleged that conditions attached to the transfer of ownership of the pandal were subsequently altered, transferring ownership to the university and removing a provision requiring it to be made available free of cost for government use.
The ED also identified Rs 6.60 crore worth of work executed on the campus using MLA and MLC local area development funds through the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, which Azam Khan had headed as chairman.
The agency said an independent valuation report estimated the construction cost of 59 buildings on the campus at Rs 494.46 crore. The university's land, acquired through 114 sale deeds, was valued at Rs 4.63 crore, taking the total campus cost to Rs 499.09 crore.
However, the trust had declared capital expenditure of only Rs 78.32 crore in its income tax returns. Of this, donations worth Rs 12.29 crore were found to be non-genuine, according to the ED.
The agency said only Rs 72.63 crore of the total campus cost could be explained through legitimate sources, leaving Rs 426.46 crore as alleged proceeds of crime that the trust's office-bearers could not substantiate.
The ED's investigation also covers other FIRs registered by Rampur Police concerning alleged demolitions of houses in 2016, assaults and threats against occupants, and the diversion of municipal cleaning machinery to the university.
The agency said information gathered during the probe was shared with Uttar Pradesh Police under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, leading to the registration of a fresh FIR on October 13 against Azam Khan, the trust and others under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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