PMLA case: ED quizzes Azam Khan in Sitapur jail

LUCKNOW: After getting a go ahead from the designated court, a three-member team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday began questioning Rampur MP Azam Khan who is currently lodged in Sitapur jail.
ED officials privy to the probe said the questioning would continue till September 24.
Azam and his son Abdullah Azam Khan have been languishing in jail since February 2020.Abdullah is accused of furnishing the wrong date of birth while filing nomination papers for the assembly elections in 2017. Sitapur jail authorities said two officials of the Enforcement Directorate reached the prison around 1.30pm and were joined by another official at 3pm.
Sitapur jail authorities said two officials of Enforcement Directorate reached the prison around 1.30pm and were joined by another official at 3pm.
A senior ED official said Azam and his son Abdullah were booked under PMLA in August 2019 on the basis of the cases registered against them in Rampur.
“Huge donations were received and wealth was amassed by the Jauhar Trust, headed by Azam Khan,” the officer said. ED is also tracking and scanning the details of the trustees who gave money for establishment of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.
A source in the ED said investigations revealed that hawala money was used by the trust for the establishment of the university and illegal occupation of land also came to light.
Sources said several people donated money to the trust and, in return, received contracts for construction works and supply of goods and material.
In July, ED had also sought details of the status of the cases against Azam Khan from Rampur police which informed the agency that 81 cases were registered in which Azam’s son Abdullah and wife Tanzeen Fatima were co-accused.
Police said chargesheet had been filed in 79 cases and closure report was submitted in one case. Most of these cases relate to land grabbing and cheating. Final report was filed in two other cases.
On September 9, the state government had taken 70 hectare land of Jauhar University in its possession.
The district administration had got the land evicted from the trust after the Allahabad high court dismissed a petition against the proceedings initiated by the state government to take over the university’s land for nonadherence to certain conditions on which land was granted to the trust in 2005.