The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached land and buildings of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, to the extent of Rs 426.46 crore – assets, it says, carry a current market value of roughly Rs 1,170 crore – in a money-laundering case against the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, its founder Mohammad Azam Khan, the jailed Samajwadi Party leader and former state Cabinet Minister, and others.

The ED initiated its investigation on the basis of 26 FIRs registered at Azim Nagar Police Station, Rampur, under Section 384 of the IPC and other sections, alleging that agricultural land belonging to farmers was forcibly taken over by the University.

“According to an inquiry report of the Rampur district administration, 45 plots of enemy property measuring about 34 acres at Village Singhankhera were also illegally occupied for the University, even after the Custodian had cancelled the lease of that land to the Trust.…