ED attaches property in madrasa fraud case
On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Lucknow office provisionally attached a residential land parcel worth Rs 53.46 lakh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. This action is part of a money-laundering investigation involving Shamsul Huda Khan, a madrasa teacher from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and others. Khan is accused of acquiring British citizenship, hiding it from Indian authorities, continuing to receive a salary, and buying property in the state.
The attached property is a 189.75-square-metre plot registered in Khan’s name in Khalilabad, Sant Kabir Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. This attachment is provisional and needs confirmation from the adjudicating authority under the PMLA.
The case is based on several first information reports filed by Uttar Pradesh Police under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that deal with cheating, forgery, using forged documents, criminal conspiracy, and related fraud. The ED began investigating money laundering after police filed these cases.
Investigators allege that Khan acquired British citizenship in 2013 and, by that act, ceased to be an Indian citizen, but concealed the change and continued to project himself as an Indian national. He is accused of using his surrendered Indian passport, along with his PAN, Aadhaar, and voter identity documents, to purchase immovable property in Sant Kabir Nagar. At the same time, he remained in service as a teacher in a government-aided madrasa and continued to draw salary and later retirement benefits from the state exchequer.
The agency found that Khan became a British citizen on December 19, 2013. After that, he reportedly lost his Indian citizenship but kept working as an assistant teacher at a Government-aided madrasa in Mubarakpur, Azamgarh. An inquiry by the Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare and Waqf Department revealed that his service from 2007 to 2017 was never verified. Even so, he was allowed to retire voluntarily in 2017 and started receiving a regular pension.
The ED found that the state paid Rs 53.46 lakh into Khan’s bank account as salary, pension, and General Provident Fund payments. They consider this money proceeds of crime, since Khan allegedly received it after becoming a foreign citizen and no longer being legally employed. Since the money is no longer available, the agency has seized property of the same value instead.
Earlier in the investigation, the ED searched two locations on February 11, 2026, and collected documents under the PMLA. The next step was the attachment order issued on October 2. The agency says the investigation is still ongoing. The case centres on two main claims: Khan hid his change in citizenship after 2013, and he continued to receive public salary, pension, and provident fund payments even though his service record is being verified. The criminal allegations are linked to the police FIRs that led to the money-laundering investigation.
