Delhi blast probe: ED attaches Rs 140 crore land, assets of Al-Falah university; falsely projected its UGC status, says agency

NEW DELHI: Two months after ED conducted searches across Delhi-NCR against Al-Falah University and its trustee-chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, and arrested him on Nov 18, the agency attached on Friday its 54acre land and buildings, including a medical college, worth Rs 140 crore in Faridabad and filed a chargesheet against Siddiqui and the university.

Siddiqui is currently in judicial custody.The university, which operates a medical college from its Faridabad campus, came under the scanner of security agencies after one of its doctors, who was also a faculty member, Umar un Nabi, detonated an explosives-laden car in a suicide bombing act near Red Fort on Nov 10, killing 15 people.Later, NIA and Delhi Police arrested other members of the terror module, most of them doctors linked to the university.The agency accused the trustee and the Al-Falah Trust of laundering over Rs 110 crore to family-controlled firms of Siddiqui. “As of now, it has been found that the trust generated proceeds of crime of Rs 493 crore arising from scheduled offences. The trust displayed false projections of NAAC ‘A’ grade accreditation after expiry and false projection of UGC status, and deceived medical education regulators (NMC and DMER, Haryana),” ED said after filing the chargesheet.

Siddiqui was arrested after ED conducted searches at 19 premises in connection with its probe under PMLA. “Active role of Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui has been found during investigation. He exercised dominant control over Al-Falah Charitable Trust, Al-Falah University and related entities, and was found a key beneficiary of the unlawful proceeds,” ED said.