ED Raids SP Leader Azam Khan, Jauhar Trust: 10 Locations Targeted In Money Laundering Probe

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided ten premises linked to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and the Jauhar Trust, with searches spread across Rampur and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Jamia Nagar in Delhi. The action stems from a money laundering case in which Azam Khan and the trust have been accused of financial irregularities, with the agency alleging that funds drawn from contracts were diverted to the trust. Separately, the Rampur development authority has ordered the demolition of 38 buildings it has declared illegal, adding a second front of pressure alongside the central agency's investigation.

The political reaction has been sharp on both sides. Samajwadi Party leader and former president Satnam Singh Mattu pushed back at the raid site, framing the action as targeted. On the other side, Minister Danish Azad Ansari has claimed that public money was misused for the trust's university, alleging that land belonging to the poor and to the government was illegally occupied and that Waqf properties were grabbed in the process. None of these allegations has been tested in court so far, and the ED is yet to make public what its searches recovered.