Red Fort Blast Case: ED May Attach Al Falah University Campus

The ED had arrested Al Falah Group chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui in November on money-laundering charges linked to alleged cheating of students enrolled in institutions run by the Al Falah Trust. The agency has claimed that these institutions lacked valid accreditation for imparting certain courses.

Sources said the anti-money laundering agency is probing whether funds used for constructing the university were sourced from “proceeds of crime.” Part of the illicit funds identified in the case is suspected to have been channelled into the construction of multiple buildings at the university campus located in the Dhauj area of Faridabad.

The ED is currently identifying and assessing the value of movable and immovable assets of the Al Falah Trust, which owns the university and its affiliated institutions. Once the process of identifying tainted assets is completed, the agency is expected to issue a provisional attachment order under the PMLA.

Sources said the university may be allowed to continue academic activities in the interest of students, even after attachment. Such attachment is carried out to prevent the alleged proceeds of crime from being sold, transferred or dissipated.

A government-appointed receiver may take over the administration of the campus after the attachment attains finality, ensuring that students do not suffer while criminal proceedings and prosecution continue.

While seeking Siddiqui’s remand in November, the ED told a court that the university and its controlling trust generated “proceeds of crime” amounting to at least ₹415.10 crore by allegedly inducing students and parents to pay fees on the basis of false claims of accreditation and recognition.

The agency is also investigating at least five cases of alleged forgery involving General Power of Attorney documents used to acquire land parcels in Delhi, purportedly at the behest of the trust.

The university’s role surfaced during a probe into a “white-collar” terror module in which more than 10 persons, including three doctors, were arrested by the National Investigation Agency and Jammu and Kashmir Police.

One of the accused, Umar-un-Nabi, a doctor associated with the Al Falah medical college, became the suicide bomber in the November 10 car bomb blast near the Red Fort, which killed 15 people.

The ED registered its case against Siddiqui and the Al Falah Group on November 14 under the PMLA, taking cognisance of two FIRs filed by the Delhi Police.

The agency has alleged that Al Falah University falsely claimed recognition by the University Grants Commission and misrepresented its accreditation status with NAAC. The ED also noted the rapid expansion of the Al Falah Group since the 1990s into a large educational conglomerate.