The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached the land and buildings of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, founded by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, the agency said . The assets have a book value of ₹426 crore and an estimated market value of about ₹1,170 crore.
The ED’s Lucknow zonal office acted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, Khan, a former Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister, and others.
The Trust, which Khan founded and controls, holds the campus at Singhankhera village. Khan is the university’s honorary chancellor.
The probe is based on 26 FIRs registered at Azeem Nagar police station, which allege that farmers’ land was forcibly taken for the university.
Citing a Rampur district administration report, the ED said 45 plots of enemy property, about 34 acres, were also illegally occupied even after the custodian cancelled the Trust’s lease.
The Union Home Ministry’s custodian has since taken the land back.
The ED shared its findings with UP Police, which registered a fresh FIR on October 13 against Khan, the Trust and others under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The agency has also taken up 28 other FIRs, most already at the chargesheet stage. These allege that in 2016 homes of several Rampur families were bulldozed on Khan’s instructions and the debris carried to the university.
According to the ED, money meant for public works was diverted to the university, and contractors who won government contracts routed funds back to the Trust as donations.
The managing director of one firm with PWD contracts worth about ₹186 crore reportedly told investigators that 30 to 40 per cent of the contract value went into material for the campus.
Works worth ₹6.60 crore were also done on the private campus using MLA and MLC local area development funds, the agency said.
It also pointed to a pandal built with state money. A 2015 order said it would remain with the Culture Department, but a 2016 order transferred ownership to the university.
Khan held the Urban Development portfolio when both orders were issued.
The ED had earlier searched the university’s premises on August 19 and seized electronic devices and records.
