No immediate relief for Azam Khan; SC asks him to approach Allahabad HC against ED arrest

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday 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 a 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 pertaining to the matter to the Allahabad High Court within two days and requested the High Court to list the petition before an appropriate Division Bench on November 16.

However, the CJI Kant-led Bench clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case.

The Supreme Court also granted Khan liberty to amend his petition and place additional material on record.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khan, contended that the ED's action was mala fide and amounted to harassment, claiming that the SP leader was arrested shortly after his release from jail on October 29.

Sibal submitted that 28 cases had been registered against Khan, besides an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and claimed that the latest arrest was intended to ensure he remained behind bars during the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

He also told the CJI Kant-led Bench that Khan, who is around 80 years old, could end up spending the rest of his life in prison if the sequence of arrests continued.

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 a 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.

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