A Delhi court on Friday extended the judicial custody of Faridabad-based Al Falah University chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui for 14 days, and the matter will come up for the next hearing on March 27.
The court also issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea filed by Siddiqui. He had moved an application seeking documents related to the charge sheet and requested that the material be provided to him.
Siddiqui was arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch on January 27 in connection with two FIRs registered against him. He has been accused of fraud and other related offences based on a complaint filed by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The court on January 31 had sent him to 14 days of judicial custody.
According to a police official, the accreditation of Al Falah University lapsed in 2018.
Investigators claim that despite the accreditation period ending in 2018, the university continued to project itself as UGC-recognised on its website and other promotional material, allegedly to lure students into enrolling.
The development came to light during the ongoing probe against the institution and its chairman.
The university came under the scanner of security agencies after three doctors associated with its medical institute were named as suspects in the blast near Delhi’s historic Red Fort on November 10.
The suspects were alleged to be part of a terror module involved in the blast. The names included Umar Nabi, who was allegedly driving the car that exploded near the Red Fort.
Siddiqui was first taken into four-day police custody from January 27 for questioning regarding the university’s accreditation claims and courses offered by the institution, including B.Ed and engineering programmes. The action by the Crime Branch followed earlier proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED had arrested Siddiqui in November last year in a money laundering case linked to the institution.
The ED had earlier told a Delhi court that the university generated alleged proceeds of crime worth Rs 45 crore by dishonestly inducing students to enrol “using false claims”.
In January, the agency had attached immovable properties worth Rs 139.97 crore linked to the university while filing a charge sheet in the case.
Investigators had further alleged that institutional funds were layered through family-controlled entities and that foreign remittances were made in favour of Siddiqui’s family members.