Supreme Court Refuses Azam Khan's Plea Against ED Arrest; Transfers Petition To Allahabad High Court

The Supreme Court today has refused Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) allegedly made just 40 minutes after his release in the Dual PAN Card case on October 29, 2026.

"We direct transfer of the petition to the Allahabad High Court. The registrar of the HC to put the matter before the Chief Justice and obtain appropriate orders for listing of the matter on 16th November 2026. High Court is requested to pass an appropriate order on the prayer for interim relief on that day," a CJI Surya Kant led bench ordered today.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal pressed the court to take up Khan's petition arguing that PMLA provisions were invoked wrongly. "They are saying goats, cows are proceeds of crime, how can that be?" Sibal argued.

Two days back, Advocate Nizam Pasha had mentioned the plea before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, seeking an urgent hearing. Khan challenged the November 1 order passed by the Special Court remanding him to judicial custody in the ED case.

The ED arrest relates to a fresh money laundering case linked to the Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust.

On October 30th, the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan in a case involving allegations of forging documents to conceal Abdullah's age and secure his nomination for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, while refusing to stay their convictions in the case.

A single-judge bench of Justice Samit Gopal observed that there was no justifiable reason to suspend their convictions, particularly in view of the number of criminal cases pending against them and their previous convictions.

Court also referred to the wider public interest involved in keeping persons with criminal antecedents away from electoral politics. "Substantial efforts have to be undertaken to cleanse the polluted stream of politics by prohibiting people with criminal antecedents so that they do not even conceive of the idea of entering into politics. They should be kept at bay," court observed.

Court recorded that Azam Khan was involved in 92 criminal cases and had previously been convicted in eight matters. Of these, two convictions were by courts of sessions and six by magistrate courts. His appeals against two magistrate court convictions had also been dismissed. As many as 81 cases were pending against him before different courts.

Similarly, Abdullah Azam Khan was involved in 46 criminal cases. He had been convicted in four matters by magistrate courts, with his appeals against two of those convictions dismissed. Another 44 cases were pending against him. "Thus looking to the criminal antecedents of the accused/revisionists, their previous conviction(s), involvement in large number of criminal cases, no justifiable reason is coming forward for entertaining the plea for suspension of conviction," Justice Gopal held.

Case Title: Mohd Azam Khan v Directorate of Enforcement

Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi

Hearing Date: November 5, 2026