The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has overturned the chargesheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against National Conference (NC) president and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and several others in connection with the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) case. The court's decision effectively quashed the ED's charges, which had been part of an investigation into financial irregularities within the JKCA. Earlier in February this year, the ED had issued a fresh summons to Abdullah for questioning in the money laundering case pertaining to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
When was Abdullah chargesheeted?
Abdullah was charge-sheeted by the central agency in the case in 2022. The case relates to siphoning off the funds of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of JKCA office bearers, and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from JKCA bank accounts.
What is the case?
The agency's case is based on a 2018 charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the same accused. The BCCI has allocated a sum of Rs 112 crore to JKCA, out of which a scam of Rs 43.6 crore was revealed. This scam allegedly took place when Abdullah was the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association between 2001 and 2012. The quantum of proceeds of crime identified by ED in this case so far is Rs 51.90 crore, out of which assets worth Rs 21.55 crore have been attached by ED. The ED earlier arrested Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, the then treasurer of JKCA, on September 4, 2019, and a prosecution complaint was filed on November 1, 2019, against him.
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