Delhi Police Crime Branch has taken Al Falah Group founder Jawad Siddiqui into four-day custody over allegations of fake NAAC accreditation and illegal degree programmes.
The Delhi Police Crime Branch, on January 27, took Al Falah Group founder and chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui into four-day custody to question him in connection to the FIRs it had lodged, accusing Faridabad-based Al Falah University of falsely claiming accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), senior officers said on Wednesday.
“Siddiqui was taken into custody for four days on January 27 and questioned over accreditation claims, as well as BEd and engineering degrees allegedly offered by the university,” a senior Delhi Police officer said.
Siddiqui was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 18 last year on charge of money laundering after the university came under the radar of the security agencies following the November 10 blast outside the Red Fort that claimed nine lives.
Three doctors working at the university-affiliated Al-Falah School of Medical Sciences & Research Centre have emerged as suspects in the terror module probe, prompting the Union government to order a forensic audit of all university records.
One of the doctors, Umar Nabi, is suspected to be the person driving the car, which exploded near the Red Fort. According to police, Umar was an alleged leader of the terror module that included at least two other Al Falah staff members – doctors Shaheen Ansari and Muzammil Ganai.
Ganai was arrested on October 30, 2025, with the police claiming to have recovered 350 kg of explosive materials from his rented residence in Faridabad. Later, Ansari was also taken into custody.
The ED had told a Delhi court last November that Al Falah University generated proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 415 crore by dishonestly inducing students to enrol using false claims. In January, the ED had attached immovable properties worth Rs 139.97 crore belonging to the university while filing a chargesheet against Ansari under money laundering charges.
“Siddiqui was found to have layered proceeds of crime through family-controlled entities. Institutional funds were routed through family-owned entities including Amla Enterprises LLP, Karkun Construction & Developers, and Diyala Construction and Developers Private Limited, among others. The ED also found outward foreign remittances of over Rs 3 crore in favour of his wife and around Rs 1 crore in favour of his son. The investigation revealed that charitable and educational institutions were used as instruments for personal, family, and commercial benefit,” an ED spokesperson had said in a statement.
Established in 1997 as a dispensary, the institute began offering BTech courses in 2003. In 2014, it was upgraded to a university and started offering undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. Undergraduate medical courses began in 2019, followed by postgraduate medical courses two years ago. Five batches of 150-200 students each study MBBS every year. The university had received ‘A’ grade accreditation from NAAC.