SC declines to hear Azam Khan’s challenge to ED arrest in money laundering case

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and sent the matter to the Allahabad High Court. It gave him no interim relief.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said the proper forum for the petition was the High Court. It did not comment on the merits.

The bench ordered the High Court records to be transferred within two days and asked the court's Registrar General to place the case before the Chief Justice for listing before a division bench on November 16.

Khan was allowed to amend his petition and file additional material.

Khan, a former Uttar Pradesh minister, was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case just after he left Rampur jail.

He had been released following an Allahabad High Court order that suspended his sentence in the dual PAN card case.

A special PMLA court in Ghaziabad then remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody on November 1.

In his petition, Khan sought to have both the ED arrest and the remand order set aside.

He also asked to be released from custody until the matter is decided.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khan, called the arrest "pure persecution" and said it was done as soon as Khan had secured release in his other cases.

He argued that the arrest was mala fide and timed to keep Khan in jail during the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

He told the court that Khan wanted bail and would contest the rest of the case, adding that Khan's age and the many cases against him meant he could die in jail.

Sibal also questioned how the money laundering law applied here, since one of the incidents dated back to 2006 and the FIR was filed in 2019.

He pointed to allegations in the complaints that included the taking of goats and cows, and asked how such items could count as proceeds of crime.

The CJI said Sibal's argument might have some substance but that the court did not want to express any opinion at this stage.

The ED's case is based on the Uttar Pradesh Police FIRs registered against Khan and others in 2019. It is linked to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur and the Jauhar Trust.