ED takes Azam Khan into custody minutes after jail release
The Samajwadi Party leader was apprehended in connection with a money-laundering probe involving a trust and university.
Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday evening, according to the Hindustan Times. The apprehension occurred within minutes of his release from Rampur district jail, where he had been held for nearly 11 months.
The ED team from Lucknow questioned Khan and took him away in connection with a money-laundering investigation involving the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust and Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. His son, Abdullah Azam, was allowed to walk free.
Khan, who was released alongside his son in a dual-PAN-card case, alleged to reporters that he was being punished for being a Muslim. He said that building a university and schools for children was being treated as a crime.
A senior ED official in Lucknow confirmed the apprehension and stated that Khan would be formally arrested and produced before the Ghaziabad PMLA court on Sunday morning. The agency has been investigating financial irregularities related to the trust and the university.
The legal team for Khan described the action as unconstitutional and planned to approach the Supreme Court. Senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal is expected to represent him in the apex court.
Samajwadi Party national spokesperson Abbas Haider alleged that central agencies are being used as instruments of political intimidation to target political opponents.